The Mom of Difficult Choices

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  Proverbs 3:5-6 

Good morning, dear friends!

Photo: tpsdave pixabay public domain

I don't know about you, but I must make a zillion choices as a mom everyday.

Many of them are insignifcant, if that is possible, prompted by the zillion and one questions that I field throughout the day (double that right now, because it's vacation time.)  Bread or cereal?  Bath or shower? Video games or outside?  Snack or no snack?  Cookies or apples?  Regular bedtime or "just five more minutes"?

Some of the decisions are more urgent and weighty in my mind. Play date with a difficult friend?  Pants or skirt?  Play before work?  Responsability or just "letting them be kids"?  There are so many decisions that are compounded by peer pressure, attitudes, and the fact that I am just plain tired...of making decisions.  Do I really want to battle this...again?  Do I really want to stand up for this issue?  Am I making too big a deal over...whatever the latest crisis is?

How much as I mom I need God's wisdom today.

As many decisions as I make during a day, most of them are not the weightier kind, and in the grand scheme of life, probably will not kill my children if I make the "wrong one." I am blessed with a wise husband as well, to whom I can count on many times to see the "bigger picture," and help me out.

As I read about some of the Bible moms this week in preparing for this blog, I realize again how very blessed I am.  These mothers had some of the toughest decisions of all to make for their children.

I must confess to being very awed by Jochebed, the mother of Moses.  If ever there was a mom that had difficult decisions to make, it was she. And the choices she would make, though she may not have realized it at the time, impacted so many more people than she could have EVER imagined.

Here are just a few of the crucial decisions that she was faced with as a mom in a difficult place:

Trust or doubt?  If ever there was a time when moms were faced with difficulties in trusting God, it was the beginning of the book of Exodus!  A strange land, a wicked ruler, hard work with no benefits, unjust laws...sounds almost like where I am living today!  Of course, there is one major difference:  serving God here in France will not result in death (even though there are many countries in the world where this is true). Jochebed was facing all of these problems in her life, and I am sure there were times when she must have wondered where God was in all of this.  It would have been so easy to doubt God's promises!  In spite of the harsh conditions of life and the unfairness of it all, Jochebed trusted in God.  In Hebrews 11:23, I read: "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw that he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment."  Wickedness has always been prevalent on earth, but Jochebed and her husband were looking to an authority higher than the king:  God.  In Acts 5:29, the apostles were faced with similar choices:  obeying the man-made laws or the higher law of God:  "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."

Life or death?  Jochebed did as much for his son as was humanly possible during this difficult time.  What a mom!  Her love for her son was so evident, as it should be normal for every mom!  How could she let him go?  How could she risk him being caught or killed?  And yet, how could she keep him?  It was an impossible situation, humanly speaking.  Jochebed was faced with the time that every mom one day must face:  letting her child go.  Her decision was forced on her while Moses was still a baby, and could have cost him his very life.   Yet, had she raised Moses to adulthood, she would have had to let him go at some point.  There were no guarantees for his safety when she placed him in that basket in the river, just as there are no guarantees for our adult children when they leave home.  The very best that I as a mom can do is to leave my children, whether they are young or old, always in the Lord's hands.  I must pray for my children's lives, knowing that one day they will be gone on their own, that God will guide them through their journeys until the moment they close their eyes in death.  I must pray the prayer of Hannah:  "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord." (I Samuel 1:28)

Now or later?  When faced with a "difficult decision" in my child's life, it is so much easier to do the expedient thing, instead of taking time to think through the consequences of my decision.  To be honest, if I had been in Jochebed's place, I don't know what decision I would have made, but I am awed by Jochebed's courage, and the wisdom of her decision.  She found a way to obey the law, and obey her God!  And I am sure that she did not realize how important this decision would be one day for her people, and the world.  Jochebed obeyed God, and because of her obedience, an entire nation was saved!  When it comes to my children, I must be ready to make tough decisions now, for the good of my children's present, and future, lives. Who knows?  The Lord has wonderful plans for my children that I have no way of knowing about right now!  May the Lord help me to seek His face for wisdom in raising my children, so that I will make the best decisions possible to help them be the adults that God wants them to be.

How loving and compassionate God was to Jochebed!  She obeyed and trusted Him, and God in return returned her son to her home!  I can only imagine the relief, the joy, the celebration that Moses's return to the house must have caused!  There was also a glimpse into her son's future that she could never have dreamed:  her son, the child of a slave, was to be raised as the king's own son!  More importantly, little did she know that God was going to use her son to be the deliverer of her own people from this king.

One thing is sure:  in the short few years that Jochebed had Moses in her house, she poured herself into raising him.  Moses's depth of character was revealed when he himself was called to make difficult decisions, and chose to trust God in his turn:

"By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treacures in Egypt..." (Hebrews 11:24-26)

When I am faced with decisions in raising my children today, as I know I will be, what kind of choices will I make?  Will I be willing to pray over them, or just get through them?  Will I be willing to stand for Christ and what I know to be right, or will I allow my emotions and my fatigue or impatience to get the best of me?  Will I look to my children's future, or will I content myself to nearsightedness as a mom?

May God help me today to seek His face, for my own good, as well as for the good of my children...

Up tomorrow:  Mother-in-Love