Patience: God's Wisdom for MomsSample

Wayward Children

You held her on your knee, rocking her back and forth, holding the well-loved Bible storybook, singing her songs of Jesus at nap time. Today she slams her bedroom door in your face and ignores your pleas that she go to church with you.

He clapped his hands in time, mimicking the gestures to the words of the church school song, eagerly answering Bible questions, sincerely praying by his bed. Now he raises his eyebrow with a cynical smirk at the idea of praying over meals.

What happened? And what do we do now?

When our children stray, when they doubt, when they live a life that seems to exclude God, we can do what God does with us. We can follow the example of his patience and discipline with wayward Israel, with wayward sinners and with wayward you and wayward me.

In our children’s rebellion against God, we often see our own detours of faith. Perhaps the only sane path to take is the one God takes with us. He waits. While we worry, he waits. While we wonder, he waits. While we wander, he waits. With love and patience, with undeniable consequences and with unwavering willingness to take us back, he waits.