What? Kids Don’t Come with A User’s Manual?

I was as serious as any naïve, new mother can possibly be as I cuddled my newborn son and vowed I would never let anything hurt him.  As I gazed into his sweet, little face, I was overcome by the realization that he was dependent on his dad and I for everything!  While my heart swelled with love, it also filled with the fear of failing.  By the time his twin sisters were born four years later, I was so paralyzed by that fear I knew I could not make them the same promise.  By the time our youngest came along, my love and desire to protect her were just as strong as they had been for her siblings, but I had begun to understand something every mother should know. 

Almost everything we own comes with a user’s manual detailing the correct care of the product and the steps to trouble-shoot any problems that may arise.

The purpose of this manual is to arm us with the information we need to perform independently with inanimate objects.  Utilizing a “thing” is a matter of the mind, but parenting is more a matter of the heart, requiring a relationship with them and with God.

It was this type of relationship that led Moses’ mother to lay him inside a basket she placed in the crocodile-infested Nile River.  This seems radical to us, but her obedience was necessary for Moses to fulfill God’s plan for him.  So, no, God does not present us with a user’s manual and send us off on our own.  He walks WITH us.  While the engineers who have an intricate knowledge of my dishwasher do not come to my house and personally answer all my questions, God, who created my children and loves them even more than I can even comprehend, never leaves.  He knows our children even better than we do and sees their future.  He walks with us every day and, if we listen, guides our steps. 

Before God spoke about parenting with the Israelites, He addressed their individual relationships with HIM.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. Deuteronomy 6:4-6 (English Standard)

Love the Lord you God with all your heart, your soul, and your might.  As a young mother, I learned the relationships I have with God and the people around me set the foundation on which I was to build my motherhood ministry.  I stopped focusing on a handbook I was never going to get and began focusing on how I could model these verses for them.  How did I treat the waitress at the restaurant?  How did I relate to the cashier at the grocery store?  How did I talk about the people around us?  Did my children know that going to church and reading my Bible were important to me? Did I treat THEM with kindness and compassion?

I cannot say I became the perfect mother, and parenting is still the hardest thing I have ever done.  My husband and I made our fair share of mistakes, and to be honest, kids have a mind and a will of their own, but as I look back, I thank God for His presence and patience as He walked with us every step of the way.

Now, God, about those manuals for grandkids….

Never mind. 

Lead the way!