Can you point to a moment or series of moments where you persevered through trials with your children and were able to rejoice over what God did? Consider the late night hours of pulling together school projects and endless hours of homework. Think about the joy when the last spelling word was written out and your child received a well deserved “A”! Staying the course is tough but the reward at the end is sweet.

In the grand adventure of parenting, there are many things we get to rejoice over. One that is at the top of every preschool parent’s list is checking the box that says “fully potty trained.”

For my family, it took over a year of sticker charts, really cool toys from Wal-Mart, tears, and of course M&M’s before we, too, could check the box. When we were finally at the finish line, we felt a sense of freedom similar to children sitting in the last class on the final day of school.

Remembering the grit
Can you point to a moment or series of moments where you persevered through trials with your children and were able to rejoice over what God did? Consider the late night hours of pulling together school projects and endless hours of homework. Think about the joy when the last spelling word was written out and your child received a well deserved “A”! Staying the course is tough but the reward at the end is sweet.

Angela Duckworth defines grit this way: “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals. Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work.” – A.W. Tozer

Remembering the calling
Scripture reminds us of our sacred calling as parents. Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord,”(ESV). When was the last time the words, “Because I said so,” fell from your lips? How can we turn everyday parenting moments into gospel-saturated, Christ-focused parenting moments? What if instead of having surface-level dinner conversations after a long school day or binge-watching Netflix, we dug deep and led our kids toward Jesus?

Changing our mindset from being focused on the tiredness from the rush of life and the busyness of the school year to being focused on the grit and stamina necessary to live out the calling to disciple our kids has the power to transform your family’s daily rhythms. A.W. Tozer reminds us, “God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work.” In a school year filled with good things that chase the heart of our families, be filled with grit and choose to pursue a faith-filled family life.