I was looking through some old pictures and videos of my kids when they were little. How precious they both were then, and still are. My oldest son’s voice sounded so young, so sweet, so little. And at one point, my youngest can be heard with his little voice, “Mama, Mama”, eagerly, excitedly, wanting my attention. I almost wanted to keep that on repeat, for I miss his little voice calling out mama to me. These days my name is mom, and both of their little voices, has deepened. Though I love all these new chapters, there is a part of me that still clings to the ones of the past. A longing within me for their littleness. As my children grow, I too am. Getting older and getting wiser as I learn the fleetingness of time. How truly time is a special commodity. I used to always hear, “The days are long, but the years are short.” I get it now, and I am getting it more, every day. A day turns into a week, that becomes a month, and then a whole other year has gone by; quickly. Our children are a gift and we have eighteen or so years to have the biggest influence we can on them. The most opportunities to have a more direct influence on them in growing up with love and knowledge of the Lord. Showing them and guiding them on not just basic life skills, but nurturing them and caring for them. In that, especially, teaching them how to nurture their faith. Somehow while showing them the beauty of walking and living for the Lord, managing still not to push them, but showing them His goodness, His grace, and His love, so they choose to walk with the Lord. Parenting has been my biggest, challenging, most rewarding adventure. Being their mom makes me want to be better. To show them goodness and who God is by not just what I say, but how I live. I have made my share of mistakes. Though every step has been a learning curve, a grand adventure, and a privilege. Even in the hard or frustrating chapters. Friend, we are given only but so much time with our children that God has blessed us with. Every chapter with them offers new opportunities on how to point them toward God. What started as Bible stories and Bible songs and lullabies has now become modern contemporary, Christian tunes. I reach them different now in teaching them what it means to follow Christ. But every chapter is important. They are getting older, and even when they are old, I will still be here for them, praying, and doing my best to show them who God is and what it looks like to have a relationship with Him. Though these are the years where we are given the most opportunities, may we not pressure them, but show them, who God is now. For if the best thing I ever do as their mom is show them who God is and help them walk with the Lord, my heart will be filled with tremendous joy. We may not always get parenting perfectly right all the time, but we can give our children a perfect God and there is nothing more wonderful than that. Maybe I don’t hear the word mama anymore, but I hear mom and I know what an opportunity that name is. I hear christian music echoing through my son’s bedroom walls. I hear my other son wanting to understand the world in which God made. I know they pray and they do it on their own, not just in routine. I cherish their littleness, but I am enjoying the now. I can’t wait to watch them become men and my prayer is that I helped their walk with the Lord, and that I did my part, in showing them Jesus.

Erin Fitts-Brower

Teach them while their young

Psalm 127:3 NIV

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NIV

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Ephesians 6:4 NIV

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Psalm 78:4-6 NIV

We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

Proverbs 22:6 NIV

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

2 Timothy 3:14-15 NIV

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.