A couple weeks ago my husband and I were leading music at church, so two of our kids sat on the front row, unsupervised. . . other than my piercing glare from the stage when they got out of line. It all seemed to go okay until it was time for the kids to be dismissed to Children’s Church. I took them both by the hand and went to walk them out of the sanctuary when they both started crying. My four-year-old was crying because he wanted to take all his toy cars to class and my six-year-old was crying because he wanted to stay in the service and drink coffee. As I half-dragged them right down the center aisle, all I could think about was how humiliated I was. I’ve learned that if you want to preserve your parenting reputation, never take your kids to church.
But being perceived as a perfect parent can’t be our goal. We want to raise kids who know they are an important and valued part of the Body of Christ, which means they need to be in church, even when their behavior there is less than ideal. I’m so thankful that within that community of believers my children are known and loved, even when they embarrass me.
Within that community are women who need to see me be real with the struggles of parenting so they know it’s okay to struggle too. Women there need to see my weaknesses so they can come alongside me with encouragement. In Titus 2 Paul tells Timothy that qualified older women should be training the younger women. This requires that older women are looking for opportunities to express love, compassion, and instruction and younger women are humble enough to receive it.
If we are tempted to think we have life all figured out, motherhood is a great reminder that we’re still learning. Having our kids pitch fits in front of our church is a pretty good indication that we could use some encouragement and that we can identify when other moms are struggling. Being in community can be humbling to the point of humiliation, but it’s still the place God tells us we need to be, for the sake of our kids and for ourselves. Let’s give grace to the mom who clearly has her hands full with her rambunctious kids. Let’s be sure we encourage her to keep coming when she feels like it’s too hard. And if you happen to see me wrestling my kids down the center aisle, I’d appreciate a high-five.
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