Each year we have MOPS Moms who "graduate." Your last child goes off to school, you no longer have a preschooler, and it happens sooner than you think. After the nights (and days) of colic, the days (and nights) of vomit, or sponging down fevers, getting the Potty Thing down, and mastering language, colors, and your phone number, all of a sudden they don't need you in the same way, and they're off.
The rewards are there all the time: that first smile, the first time you walk in and they are sitting up in the crib reaching out their arms for you, the dandelions in the grubby fists, and the crayon pictures that say "l luV mOm." But the Real Prize in this package is adult children.
Perhaps some of you do not live with the father of all your children. You might wonder at time why you even have this child, but God has created a unique individual, for His own purpose. The Godly seed is preserved, and those genes carry a particular inheritance that somehow must be preserved. And He trusts you to help that child use her particular inheritance.
At church we held an academic seminar to teach the Body of Christ to defend the faith. (The seminary word for this discipline is "apologetics.") Two brilliant scholars made you proud to be a believer, and with humor they communicated the great Truths of Christianity. Every once in a while I would steal a glance at my friend, the mother of these two fine young men. A maternal glow emanated from her In his closing presentation, Dr. John Mark Reynolds talked about the man who was his father, the man who walked in integrity and never told him a falsehood. And I thought of this rural West Virginia family whose grandparents never dreamed of college and where God has brought them--He surely had a Plan. And I thought of the Reward that is adult children.
You may think you have your rewards now, but the time will come when your children become your best friends. The miracle is: they know you better than anyone because you have shared your most intimate history with them. They know all your flaws, and they love you anyway. It is so cool. Plus, you have so much pride and joy in seeing the wonderful contributions to the Kingdom of God that He has created, and stand in awed amazement. I love it.