On Being Steadfast…

June 9th, 2014

Oh, Parenting.  You are a different bag of tricks than I had expected.  I’ve been searching for the quick fixes, and happily ever afters, and everyone wins, and they’re not to be found.

Instead it’s the daily race of being steadfast.  It’s being a constant, consistent, calm, steady, gentle, faithful, firm, continual, and grounded in truth.

It’s being quick to ask for forgiveness.  It’s crying over failures.  It’s starting over again and again and again. It’s not knowing the solution, but being determined not to give up, and stay the course (even when you want to run away and throw in the towel).  It’s asking God to help me when I miserably try to do it all on my own strength.

I know that everyone warns me about parenting teenagers with dread and eye rolls, but I think teenagers are made here. This is the groundwork. This is where it counts. Character is made in these everydays of life.

Yesterday our sermon from our dear friend Bryan was on being steadfast from I Corinthians 15:58,

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

It doesn’t quit, it doesn’t even pause.  It’s a continuous work of love. It’s in our church, in our jobs, and in our homes.

It’s not in vain, My Friends.

In the hard, in the mess, in the fear, in the conflict, in the trenches – This is the LABOR that matters.