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“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
-Hebrews 12:1 NLT
Our culture is in great need of heroes, stories with sacrificial endings, and inspiring lives of those who strain after all that is good, beautiful, and true. I consider my work of faithfulness a success when, in hidden moments of life, I hear and see my children making hard choices—the choice to work hard to pay bills, the choice to be moral and cultivate integrity in a world that gives permission to compromise, the decision to stay faithful in places the world or others would say "give up."
We live in a mediocre culture. The voices of our culture in this contemporary world will almost always give you permission to compromise your ideals, give up on commitments, escape the hard work, go the easy route. “Oh, they will be just fine—don’t interfere too much.”
But, there are not many examples of people to whom you can point your children and say:
“Look at that person—they have worked hard, sacrificed their lives, accomplished something great in this world!”
We need to say to our children, "I believe God has designed you to give something great to your generation in your lifetime!”
I am convinced that if we women understood that we have a capacity to work a little harder, give more, and cultivate more intentionally, we would indeed be able to see greatness of soul, depth of faith arise out of our children’s lives. Nothing truly great is ever accomplished without great effort. We are, after all, charged with subduing a world that is in rebellion against God. By investing more time in our children, we are helping them mount up over inertia, laziness, bad habits, and self-centeredness, and giving them practice at developing good habits, skills, and abilities—all of which need to be intentionally nurtured, taught, modeled, and trained into them by their parents!
Hear more on my podcast today about His excellence through us. He is our source of strength.