Who's Taking Care of Me?নমুনা

CHANGING YOUR BABY'S DIAPERS

Especially in the early years, moms almost always end up doing more with the baby than dads. Statistics show that new mothers allocate twice as much of their available time to child care activities than fathers! I have definitely struggled with this reality. If my husband is out at a lunch meeting, looking presentable and having a real adult conversation, and I’m at home in sweats wiping the results of a diaper blowout off my baby’s back, I start to feel bitter. 

Caring for a baby can often feel like a lowly role. As moms, it’s difficult not to feel less-than as we engage in the mundane and often unwanted tasks of parenthood, such as changing an endless stream of dirty diapers. No matter how much your husband shares the load, and I can not even begin to fathom how single moms do it on their own, the duties of parenthood are often lowly and messy. 

In the book of Mark, two of Jesus’s disciples ask Jesus to give them positions of honor in heaven. Jesus responds that in his economy, the way to get a position of honor is through suffering and sacrifice. “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all,” Jesus says.   

Jesus didn’t just preach this; He lived it. Jesus said he Himself did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life for his children. Jesus, God the Son, came to earth as a man, taking on all the limitations and suffering that comes with being human. During Jesus’s time on earth, He did not seek out the praise of those in authority and influence but rather associated himself with the outcasts, the sick, and the poor. Jesus’s ministry was characterized by servanthood as He healed and restored the brokenness around him. Jesus humbled Himself to the point of dying a death on a cross that he didn’t deserve. But ultimately, when Jesus resurrected from the dead, God the Father exalted Him above all else. 

This is the type of humility and service God calls us to. God sees every humble act of service you do for your baby; He knows how many diapers you’ve changed! And in God’s economy, the humble are esteemed and exalted, as we see through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

God does not expect you to willpower your way into humble service; even after going to the cross for you, he continues to humbly love and serve you, empowering you to do the same for your baby. No request or worry of yours is too lowly for God; He bends down to your level and meets you where you are. No sin or struggle is too messy for God; again and again, He draws near and wipes away your shame and guilty conscience with His unrelenting love. No repeated request irritates God; He is full of humble patience. He delights to draw near to you, and he delights when you lean into him. 

King of the universe, whose ways are so above our ways, God does not gloat above us. No, God draws near to us, in all our lowliness and weakness; so, as Hebrews 4:16 says, we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Take a moment to rest in your Heavenly Father’s humble service to you.