My husband, Kevin, has been dressing our children for church for years. It’s not because he’s such a wonderful husband, although he is, yet I believe it’s because he doesn’t care for the way I dress them. Fine with me! This past Sunday, as he did his thing, I imagined myself completely removed from my family and yes; my family would get along just fine without me. Although my role in the home is vital, I am not so significant that I can’t be replaced and I do nothing so important that someone else can’t do. When I think about how the sun rises each morning, the shining stars and moon, the unseen blowing wind, and the changing seasons, who am I to think I’m so significant? My life is just a vapor soon to vanish away. How I use my vapor is what is significant!
As a mother, I often ask myself if I’m satisfied being ‘ just a mother’ or do I need another status and other stuff to define me? Do I feel I have so much to offer that I should be doing more than raising the children God put in my care? Do I value my family enough to spend time learning to manage, organize, and create a loving home environment? If I can learn to love being just a mother and genuinely love with the love of Jesus, I will have accomplished an immeasurable task. Children learn more from a mother’s actions than from anyone’s talk – our influence is inconceivable and we are unquestionably our child’s first teacher. Am I using my vanishing vapor to make a difference in my child’s life? In my home? Am I using my vapor to try to change the world or am I making a change in my little corner of the world? Am I using my vapor to bring God glory or am I bringing glory to myself? When my vapor vanishes, did I make an impact being just a mother?
James 4:14 (NKJV)
“…whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
