Encouragement for Moms

My wife Nancy wrote this today - I thought I would share it with you all:

Hello my friends who are moms!

I was reading in my Bible and came across this verse:

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the oxen."
Proverbs 14:4

You may look at this and say "so what, I don't have oxen or mangers (feeding troughs)". We can still get the meaning of the verse -- if your manger is clean then you aren't using it to feed oxen and therefore have no animal to help produce your crops.

As I read this verse I changed the words a little to read:

"Where there are no children, the house/minivan is clean,
but abundant joy comes from a home filled with children."

As a mom I sometimes get overwhelmed with the mess and clutter that my kids can make in the house and in our minivan. It seems as though a large amount of my time is spent either cleaning up after them or, in the case of my older two, staying on them to clean up after themselves. This verse reminds me that without my children I could have a wonderfully clean house and minivan but what JOY would I miss out on. The time will come too soon when they will be older and will move out on their own. That is the time when my house will be clean and I may drive something other than a minivan. I am sure that then I will miss the mess!

So as an encouragement to you I say, enjoy the mess and remember the JOY your children bring. Life would be so boring without them. What a blessing from God they really are!

Have a great day,
Nancy