I never thought the hill I might die on would be the desperate attempt to find willing church ladies to watch some little kids so I can lead a Bible Study for young moms. I never would have thought that job was the job to break even the softest faithful servant’s heart. Send me to bowels of hell, just don’t send me to the baby room.
I raised my kids far from family and aunties, no grandparents, no nothing. Were it not for soft-hearted ladies willing to take my babies for a couple of hours, I probably would have gone crazy. Full on bonkers. I’m not exactly the poster child for stability now, so one can only imagine the horror….
My kids just left for school and I told them I might be pulling them out tomorrow morning so they can babysit if worse comes to worst. Because I guess this feels like the hill, ya know? Maybe I’m supposed to be the knight errant for young mothers and toddlers fighting for their honor on the battlefield of midweek morning womens Bible Study.
I did not see it going that way. It’s a great illustration for how we turn daily stuff into dragons, ya know? This topic of childcare has become, over the years, scarier and scarier to the point that the notion of watching some veggie tales and getting out the crayons might as well be like asking us to cure Covid. Impossible.
Oh wait…
We all have a nice little roster of dragons that never get fought. Talking it out with that friend after the falling out, going on a date with a stranger, getting into therapy, getting into recovery, enrolling, buying the ticket, whatever. And why? The dragons we don’t slay beome part of us. Who would we be if we didn’t have those dragons to look out for? What excuses would we have to retire forever if we squared up to the mouth of the cave, raised our sword, and believed we could live to see tomorrow?
If I live to see tomorrow it will be to host this Bible Study for moms with kids who deserve a chance to be in the Word together. If I can’t pull my kids out of class, then I’ll watch the babies myself and leave written instructions for the rest of them. Failure is not an option. And also, it’s an act of the faithful- trusting God will provide long after everyone thinks you’re a fool. It’s loaves and fishes, building a boat when there’s no rain, walking into the den of lions, facing a giant with a slingshot and some stones , man. We’re all called to be the dumb one and face the dragon. Maybe I prefer to be that over the role of scoffer any day.