Sell Them on E-bay

We were visiting at a congregation out of town yesterday and I met a delightful woman who had two young children. She was trying to coral them as they were running down the aisle after church and then came over and introduced herself to me. She mumbled something about their behavior and I said, "Enjoy them now, they won't be little long." She thanked me for reminding her and then said the funniest thing. She told me her husband has threatened to sell them on "E-bay". We laughed and I offered to buy the two year old.

How often we can be frustrated as young parents. I remember I was. I recall Sundays when I would question why I had even bothered to go to worship after having gotten up at least a dozen times to take one or the other of my three young children out to discipline them or go to the bathroom. (My husband was always in the pulpit so I had to manage them alone through services.) But there were sisters in the church who would remind me that I was training my children to learn to worship. That prodded me to persevere and today my children are training their children to worship their God. Finally, I see the "fruit of my labors" and it is sweet.

I look back with fondness to those days though I might have sold one or two of mine on "E-bay" if it had been around at the time. But I'm thankful for those Christians who encouraged me rather than complained about my "unruly" children. So, hang in there mothers (and fathers) and, if you see young parents struggling with their children at worship, be an encourager rather than a complainer. Be thankful these parents are striving to raise their children to be worshipers of God. If we only had more children and more young families wanting to serve God!

Dana Burk