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10 Minutes Peace

    by Susan McGrath

Bring It On Home
Date Posted: August 4, 2007

Home is supposed to be where our hearts reside, where we all long to be, yet sometimes it's not where our focus stays. I am certainly guilty of this and in a book I am reading I was relieved to find that many other women seem to be challenged by it as well.

How is it that my friend who has a master's degree in counseling couldn't save her marriage or my friend who has a heart for sharing Jesus with the entire community can't reach her teenaged son who has turned his back on the Lord? I don't mean to imply that they are solely at fault in these situations or that they could have prevented them by staying home, but that sometimes in "doing" for God we forget to simply "be" with God.

My children have challenged me in the last few months until I want to spit! (That presents a lovely, ladylike picture, doesn't it?) My oldest son is trying on an attitude and I have to say it doesn't fit very well into my idea of a harmonious home. I ponder this and I think, "Maybe I shouldn't have spent so many years trying to lead other people's kids in Christ." I don't regret or resent my time in youth ministry, I simply have to recognize that my focus needs to be at home right now and my own children need to see Christ in me.

Why is this so difficult? Do we, as moms, think it doesn't count to minister at home?

I think for me it's a remnant of the times. I grew up in the 1980s when women were told they could go to college and have a successful career - they didn't need a man. After they achieved success in the corporate world it was all right to find the perfect man and have a family. I kind of believed that dream, it just didn't work out that way for me. But I'm still trying to achieve things on a big scale - maybe not because God is telling me I should, but because that's how I believe I can change the world.

I have come to understand, though, that changing the world starts at home, but that's easier to admit than to put into practice. It doesn't mean I have to give up all ministry opportunities and activities outside the boundaries of my yard, it just means I need to put my walk with God and teaching my children to love God at the top of the list. I know I will probably always struggle with this issue, but God is faithful and He will give me strength, wisdom and even a wall to run into when He needs to get my attention.

These simple verses carry a huge impact: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." - Deuteronomy 6:5-9

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Biography Information:
Susan McGrath is:

a recovering journalist trying to encourage others and glorify God through writing;

living the small-town life with husband Tim and sons Lincoln, 12, and Sawyer, 6;

completing a few put-off writing projects while using chocolate for therapy.