Letting Go of a Clean Stable

I was reading in Proverbs recently and came across a verse that jumped out at me - it was in chapter 14:4 and said, "Without oxen a stable stays clean, but from the strength of oxen comes an abundant harvest." I am not trying to refer to my children as oxen, but what impacted me so much was the reference to a clean stable. That is one of the greatest challenges for me (at least for my orderly personality); to enjoy being home full time with five children while homeschooling - there is never a true break, at least not with enough time to "keep the stable clean". Oh sure, just like the farmer of the oxen we can clean out the pen and put in fresh hay, but be guaranteed, it isn't long until the hay needs cleaning again.

I love what comes next in that verse though - there is a benefit, that I am already beginning to enjoy, that comes from living in a dirty stable...oxen provide an abundant harvest. And so it is with our families too - there is a harvest to be enjoyed when train our children up in God's orderly ways. Our oldest is becoming capable of so much, it amazes me...he is able to pull out a vacuum, clean a toilet, bath his little brother, clean up supper dishes, mow the lawn and the list goes on (not all in one day, of course). And our next child is able to match as almost an equal for chores and jobs that need to be tackled and they are not even in their teen years yet! But more important than skills, are the abilities of the heart; learning to go to another sibling when they have wronged them and make it right, wanting to help someone who doesn't have all that they need, being willing to pitch in and help even when there are things they would rather do - that is when we see the maturity of the heart.

I point this out, not to play up our children's abilities because we still have a long way to go on work ethics and heart issues, but to illustrate a point that I am drawing from Proverbs 14:4. One of the rewards for learning to maintain and enjoy my "stable" and my "oxen" is truly the abundant harvest that we are only starting to see. God's plan for family is so perfectly complete that I think we sometimes fail to see the beauty of the barn, or stable. All that we need for training up our children in the way they should go is found in God's word and He has promised us that when it goes out it will not return void. If we want to see an abundant harvest, then we are the ones who are responsible to sow the seeds - the job was given to us as parents, not anyone else.

James 3:18 says, "Peacemakers (who is a better peacemaker than a mother? - that describes one of the biggest roles in my day) who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." That is what I want in my children; more than education, wealth or position - I want to see a harvest of righteousness rise up in each of them. And we know that when a seed goes into the ground, we have to be patient to see the results.

If we put a cucumber seed in the ground on a Monday, we all know it would be foolish to expect a full grown cucumber to eat by Friday. So it is with raising our children, we cannot see all that God is doing on the inside of each of them, but we can trust that what He has promised will come to pass.

So, while we let go of a clean stable, we work towards that abundant harvest...may we be found to be sowing into their righteousness for Christ's glory and not our own.