A Mother’s Measurement

Recently, another sister and I were sharing a kitchen; she making bread for her family, and I cleaning up from baking. The 2-cup measure had just been washed when the sister asked where that very measuring cup was. It hadn’t dried yet, and when I reached for it and handed it to her, there were water drops still dotting its surface inside and out.

How useful a measuring cup is to a cook! Can we be as useful to Jesus in things He wants to accomplish? Are we cleaned out of our own ideas and plans and willing for God to use us in any humble way that pleases Him?

Mothering is an honorable, yet humble task, whether given by birth, adoption, or—if yet a single woman—in helping siblings, or whatever field of labor God has placed her. Oh, how she needs her measuring cup filled up with God’s grace and wisdom to pour into the hearts of those in need. May God give her the wisdom to be as “consistent as the northern star” in her discipline. How would our baking turn out if the measurement on that 2-cup kept changing? The desired dishes would often be far below our expectation. There would often be flops—perhaps uneatable disasters that must be thrown to the chickens! This would be a great waste, but it is small compared to the waste often created by mothers and fathers on their children’s character.

Mothers, we go through tests every day. Those little ones are testing the measuring lines every day. Are we going by God’s measure every single time, thus giving them the security they crave? Are we measuring up to God’s standard in training our children?

Remember that look after you told your little one to not open that cabinet door under the kitchen sink? It said, “Do you really mean it?” Are we going to keep our word, or are we going to give in, thinking it is not so important?

Or how about the ten-year-old that wanted to spend the night with a friend. “Oh, please, Mama, why can’t I?” Are you going to give in to his pleadings, against your own better judgment? Don’t be afraid to measure out the righteous judgment God has given you over this soul that is placed in your hands.

Then there is your preteen daughter desiring to sit with the other young ladies in the congregation several rows behind your usual place in the front. She stands crying before you, twisting the corner of a towel, not fully understanding why you do not feel you can grant her request. Are you going to be faithful to your post and watch for her soul, or give in to her cries? If you could look into the future and see all the other girls your daughter wants to sit with—unsaved, divorced and remarried—it would help your resolution considerably, wouldn’t it?

Live close to God; get your spiritual measurements from Him. “Meekly hold the true position, standing firm.” It will bring rich blessing!