(Taylor Kilbride)
Hi friends! For those who don’t know me, I’m a stay-at-home mom to 3 kids. During the spring reading program, we listened to the daily audios together during lunchtime. As I reflected on our time listening every day and asked my kids to share some things that they remember, I realized that they didn’t remember all that much. I knew when we started that a lot of what we were listening to was beyond them, at 10 months old, 3 years old, and 5 years old. All they really learned was that Mom really cares about listening to this every day. They learned there are many different elders that they know (and some that they don’t yet know) in the church who teach us God’s word. They learned that they are a part of a church that loves God‘s word.
I really wanted them to say something profound and to remember something special. I wanted them to have a glimmer of something that felt really meaningful or powerful. That didn’t happen. My conversation with the boys reminded me that what Jesus said about the little children was very simple. Jesus said let the little children come to me. He didn’t say let the little children come to me once they are able to engage at a certain level. He didn’t say let the little children come to me once they’re fully catechized. He didn’t say let the children come when they can read, or even when they can talk. He just said let the children come. I’ll trust in faith that we are planting seeds in these young years and that God will be faithful to give the growth.
To be honest, as we listened every day during lunch, there were days where I felt like I couldn’t engage well. Some days, I was just grateful to be listening to something together so that I didn’t have to field another question about bugs or robbers or fire. Some days it was an opportunity to ponder Biblical truths, but some days it was just a break from the noise of mom life. I’m encouraged that the invitation to come is for me, too. Jesus didn’t say come to me once you have it all together. Come to me once you’re able to engage at a certain intellectual level. Come to me once you are feeling thoughtful enough or contemplative enough or are in the right mental space. As a tired mom of many young kids in the trenches, this reading program through the book of Matthew was just an invitation to come, and I’m grateful.
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An audio version of each devotion will be posted on our church podcast “Life Together at CRPC,” which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.