You Are Made for This: 14 Devotions to Uplift & Encourage Busy MomsSample

They Grow Up So Fast

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” JEREMIAH 1:5

At a birthday party the other day, I saw a little boy with curly hair going down the slide. I had to do a double-take because I was pretty certain that was my son, Jackson. But wait, Jackson is seven years old now, not three . . . When I made that realization, I had to hold back the tears because he looked just like my little guy—only when he was much younger.

Time is flying by much faster than we think. A few years back, I took my kids to Chick-fil-A, and we had a picnic on the church lawn right next door. They were very little—just two and four years old. As we ate, a woman about my mom’s age came up to us and out of the blue said, “Enjoy these days. They grow up so fast. I know it can be hard now, but you’re doing great.” I looked at her with tears in my eyes and said, “How did you know I needed to hear that?”

Her words are true—time is moving fast! Enjoy all the little moments with your little ones. Put down your phone and join them in running around the yard or read them a couple of extra stories. In time, they’ll want to be off playing with their friends, then off to school, then off on their own. They may not remember the book you read them or that picnic on the lawn, but they’ll always remember how you made them feel. Soak up the good times in your memory bank too, Mama, because life is moving fast.

Made for This!

You can’t go back in time, only forward. No matter if your children are still forming in the womb or are parents of their own, take the time now to realize that time moves fast. Spend as much time with them as you can—it won’t be time wasted. Often, we feel so busy in the moment, but for the time we can spend, let’s make it last. Let your kids be kids, as you are reminded in I Corinthians 13:11 that they will give up their childish ways someday. In the meantime, let them be little and enjoy them at every stage of their lives.