There are few ministries or pursuits more noble than the mission field. Any parent is proud to say of his adult child, “My son or daughter is a missionary in _____.”
The mission field is one of those places where the harder the conditions, the scarcer the resources, the more seemingly noble the mission. We admire those who are willing to endure hard things for the cause of Christ, especially where discipling men and women for the Kingdom is concerned.
But every home is a mission field, and every parent is a missionary. They may be really awful ones, neglectful ones, even, but the mission field is there, and it is ripe. It is where disciples are made, the Word is preached and lived, and souls are added to the Kingdom.
There is a universal acknowledgement that motherhood is “hard.” I would agree. But “hard” is relative. I might call my day hard because there is laundry and cooking and maintaining a house but at the same time talking and listening and teaching and maintaining a home. Where people live. And there might be tears. Or strife. Or a teenager (let’s all stop and have a moment of silence). I might step on Legos. Every. day. And the septic tank might back up into the house. Twice. That might be “hard.”
But that “hard” isn’t anything like the hard day Katie Davis has when she finds herself nursing wounds and squeezing in, among her own thirteen children, in a house in Uganda, another family, whose mother is sick and dying. And there are other children who want to be fed, and more sick to be nursed, and there is more brokenness than there are healers and I’ve read her story…she is tired, and life is very hard sometimes.
Can’t I do even what feels hard to me, right now, where I am, with joy and abandon because Christ calls me? Because wasn’t the cross hard? Wasn’t His life riddled with pain and criticism and needy people?
We need a fresh perspective sometimes.
I’m tired of a Christian culture that gauges “God’s will” by some measure of easy or hard. Who gives a few dollars and some lip service to the missionary in Uganda but tells a woman she shouldn’t accept another disciple God might give her because used cars and thrift store clothing would be “too hard.” We don’t treat children as those who “are of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
I am challenged to really grasp that God has called all of us, no matter where we are, to the mission field. Besides the ones in our home we have been called to lead and love in His grace, we have neighbors, friends and family who are hurting, who need to be loved. Do we have the time? Do we have the passion? Can we walk as Jesus walked, healing, binding and loving whomever was in front of Him?
That is to set our minds on heavenly things right among the earthly things.
As a mother, do you take your job as a missionary seriously? Do I?
If you are a mom trying to figure out how to stay home but are concerned about your family’s finances, I want to offer some practical help and suggestions. I used to be one of those women. But guess what? YOU CAN DO IT!
