Biblical Encouragement for Parents

*Note: This post was originally written to provide biblical encouragement for parents during the time at home during COVID-19. While this was the perspective I wrote it from, many of these encouragements are things we hold to and remind ourselves often in parenting in our household, no matter the season we are in. I pray they will encourage you still, in whatever season of parenting you find yourself in!

The world seems to be changing by the minute and with it has come some big changes for families whether it is the loss of a job, everyone working from home, or you have suddenly become a homeschooling family overnight. With these changes comes times of impatience, irritability, and chaos as everyone figures out how to function in one space and juggle all the new roles they have on their plate.

Maybe you’re wondering how long you can last like this or maybe you are excited about how life has slowed down and your family can finally spend some much needed time together. Maybe you’ve already had your moments of constantly getting interrupted by little ones. My encouragement to you today is to lean into the hard moments. Yep, that’s what I said. LEAN into all of it. Let me explain.

While what’s going on in the world due to Coronavirus is awful, heart-breaking, and so incredibly hard, we have been given a unique opportunity to slow down, spend time together as a family, and take a step back from the normal busyness of life. While for many this may add to your busyness such as health care workers, teachers, and others working extra hard in this time (THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! You guys are amazing and don’t get commended enough!), for many of us, we are just stuck at home figuring out how to juggle this new lifestyle of school from home and work from home.

In the midst of this, many of us have been given a unique opportunity to be home as a family, and this is a blessing! It is a blessing to have our kids home and to get time together that we wouldn’t normally get. This is a time that we shouldn’t just let pass by or wish away because it’s hard, but instead we should take advantage of it. SLOW is good, it causes connection and creativity.

So, I thought I’d share a few things that have helped me over the years during the long days at home in the early years of parenting. These are things someone said to me at some point and they really stuck or other things that God taught me along the way. The principles are not just for this season of social distancing, but are ones that we try to carry into our everyday interactions and lifestyle as parents.

7 Encouragements for Parents:

1. Children are a blessing not an inconvenience!

While I know many would agree with this statement, how often do we treat our kids like they are an inconvenience? Do their needs and interruptions frustrate us or do we actually see our kids as a blessing and delight in spending time with them? Do we not only love our kids but also show them that we like them too- that we want to be around them and think they’re great? Having extended time together is a great time to ENJOY one another!

2. We should be thankful when our children interrupt us!

I know…this seems really backwards, but this one is one I cling to so often and have to remind myself. When interruptions come, I have to remind myself that this is exactly what God had for me to do today. Whatever the interruption is, it is what I’m supposed to be spending my time on.

Interruptions are also a great gospel opportunity in my own heart. It is a great time to evaluate where my heart is that day. Am I focusing on my own desires, everything going my way, and on my tasks getting accomplished OR am I loving others above myself, choosing to put off my impatient/selfish heart, and choosing to let God work in the way He wants to that day?

3. Ordinary faithfulness in the everyday moments of life

We aren’t called to be perfect, flawless parents. In fact, this is exactly why Jesus came to die- God knew we could never be perfect, so He sent a Savior to release us from our bondage to sin and to bring us back to Him. He calls us to ordinary faithfulness with the promise to give us the grace needed for each day. He knows we can’t always be faithful but HE is always faithful. So give yourself a little grace and lean into His faithfulness to strengthen you on those long days.

4. Be thankful for the times of disobedience and heart issues that come up because they bring opportunities to share the gospel in our home.

Extended time in one space doesn’t always bring out the best in us, but it CAN if you lean into it. It is the perfect time for your own character growth and for the growth of your children’s character. As impatience, anger, irritability, and unkindness show up, these are opportunities to talk about our character issues. They are opportunities to point us to the gospel, our desperate need for Jesus, and to ask for His help in these struggles. It is in these moments where we can share the gospel with one another and run to the feet of Jesus. And no, I’m not just talking about the kids having to run to Jesus, I think my character is formed more than anyone else’s along the way!

5. Time together is the perfect ground for character training.

Even if you aren’t struggling with particular character issues, having time together is a time to discuss the character of God and our character in light of who He is. The perfect time for talking about this is in times of peace, times when you’re not in the middle of a fight between kids or dealing with selfishness. These chats prepare our hearts for the times when we are struggling with that particular character issue. Often in the normal, busy times we don’t take enough time to discuss these things in times of peace, so now is a great time to be talking about these things!

For more on the topic of character training check out: Using the Bible to Train Kids’ Hearts in Righteousness

6. Use this time to establish good habits as a family.

While you’re not running kids to and fro all day long, use the time you’ve been given to establish some good routines and habits. One that we are trying to do is to all sit and read our Bibles next to each other each morning. After breakfast, we all sit down, read our Bibles for a little while, take some notes, and then tell each other something we learned. After praying together, we are ready to start our day of school at home. We are LOVING have a slower morning to be able to do this at the table instead of in the car. It’s encouraging to see what the kids take away and how we can encourage each other as we start the day.

Other habits may be exercising together, teaching the kids life skills such as cooking and cleaning, doing family devotions before bed, starting a weekly family night, having a board game or movie night, or finding a series to read aloud together that the whole family can enjoy.

7. Lastly, be gracious and patient with one another.

And be gracious and patient with yourself. Draw near to Jesus and as you draw near to Him, you will lead your family to Him too!

While none of these things are easy, my prayer is that we can all lean into them and allow God to work in mighty ways in our families through this time at home together. What other biblical encouragement for parents during those long days at home would you add? Let’s encourage one another as we seek to love our children as Christ has loved us! And remember..

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23