Refine

I sit on the floor with my daughter as she sets up her safari animal toys, something we’ve done countless times before.

Lion, tiger, gorilla.

I feel a small sense of pride as I gaze at her sweet face beaming with excitement and determination as she manages to line up the animals without accidentally knocking them over. My son lets out a cry, and I get up to feed him on the couch. I continue to watch my daughter.

Zebra, camel, monkey.

These simple moments are the rhythms of our days. In the same way my daughter tirelessly sets up her toys every day, I go through the motions of being with, feeding, reading to, and playing with my kids. My days feel so simple compared to the life I led before having kids. Now I often wonder how I am being a light in my community and strengthening my faith.

Recently a friend mentioned how being a parent is a refining process. To be a parent is to “die to oneself” by slowing down, by putting aside one’s immediate needs to focus on one’s children. It is a daily rhythm of grace and faithfulness.

Gorilla, antelope, elephant.

God in God’s goodness does this for us. God meets us where we are and holds us when we are on the ground crying. God stops to find the lost sheep, to meet the woman at the well, to be our friend when we let God down.

Could parenting be a refining process that makes us look more like Jesus?

My son lets out a cry. I pick him up and rock him gently as he closes his eyes to fall back to sleep. I’m struck by how my immediate response is to attend to my child who needs me with no hesitation. In the same way God meets us where we are. Sometimes in places of deep hurt or shame, God in God’s goodness bends down to pick us up to find rest in him.

Cheetah, crocodile, rhinoceros.

The quiet, daily rhythms of parenting are refining me to be more like Christ. I find much purpose in this thought. A simple life like mine can mirror that of our Savior. With this, I find rest in knowing that my tasks hold merit, and sanctification can happen as I am folding my son’s laundry and seeking God.

Perhaps as my kids grow older my daily rhythms will look different. To the human eye, my purpose might begin to look bolder or more exciting. Whatever my evolving daily rhythms hold, I can rest knowing that my greater purpose does not change: to seek a life of refinement toward becoming more Christlike.

My daughter starts picking up her animals to put away. It is almost lunchtime, and after a nap we will head outside. My son is cooing on the floor, reaching for the toys that have been placed around him. He is on the cusp of rolling over, and we revel in the newness of his ever-changing skills. I say a little prayer over my children and head to the kitchen to prepare lunch, considering Colossians 3:17—”And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”