Peace

"All your sons will be taught by the Lord and great will be your children's peace." Is 54:14

I love this verse.
Sometimes I wonder what the goal of my parenting is. I remember that Bill Cosby routine about parenthood where the children are crying out for fairness and his reply is that parents give a hoot about justice they just want PEACE and QUIET!!! 

But really, peace is what I want. I do have the good sense to know that peace does not always come with quiet, in fact, biblical peace doesn't have much to do with tranquility.  I just think about Jesus in the boat with the disciples in the middle of the storm. There's our Prince of Peace, chilling out, taking a nap. He's all about peace in the middle of the storm, not peace instead of the storm.

So, as I try to arrange my chaotic life as a mother of three boys, I reflect on the above mentioned promise. My boys will be taught by the Lord and they shall have peace.  This verse encourages me for two reasons. Number one, God is gonna teach them.  Now don't get me wrong, I know that I am responsible to train up my children. But sometimes I feel like a failure. As of yet I haven't even gotten them to master toilet training basics like lifting the seat to pee. While this does make it more of an adventure every time I enter the bathroom, it doesn't do much for my confidence in my abilities to teach my children.  But right here, promise of God, He's gonna teach them. "Taught by the Lord." I think I'll just be the teacher's helper here. That's good enough for me.

The second reason this brings me such comfort is because I think about what I want our lives, our hearts, and our home to be about and it is peace. Although I sometimes lose sight of this, it is not perfection, looking good, or feeling like we are meeting some arbitrary standard of what family should be. What I really desire for me and my children is that first and foremost we would have peace with God in right relationship through his son Jesus. I desire that we be at peace in our relationships with each other and those God has placed in our lives. This is his promise, one that I am going to be standing on and remember this year. It's God's best for us. What that looks like? Who knows. It could be messy. But in the end I know it will be good :)