The Pleasant Times

At church, during the Lord's Supper, we often sing "When We Meet in Sweet Communion:"

"God so loved, what wondrous measure;
Loved, and gave the best of heav'n,
Bought us with that matchless treasure,
Yea, for us His life was giv'n."

I was thinking:
Jesus did a lot of good down here on earth while He was walking in Judea.
He healed the sick.
He cast out demons.
He could have stayed another 50 years and healed a lot of people.
But that good would have been temporary.
Instead He died for us at what we would call a "young" age;
died for the sins of all mankind,
so that everyone that has ever been on earth, or ever will be on earth, can have the hope of eternal life.

Carl Schweninger Mutterglück

And I was thinking:
As a mother, I have to sacrifice the temporary, even if it seems good, for the overall good of my children's lives, for their whole lives.
It may be tempting to undertake extra education, extra work in or out of the home, or even new hobbies or frequent social events. But these things need to be looked at very carefully-- many of them take huge chunks of time away from the home, and even work or school "from home" may mean major neglect of the children, husband and household.  Mothers need to be careful to discern between things that can be done now and things that should be done later in the future, for even teen-aged children need their mother.
So, it may be that there is a temporary good, perhaps more money or some other benefit, in neglecting the children to do other things, but I think that mothers can still reap benefits and rewards not only from these things but also from their children, if they will be discerning and wait. Stay with your children and you will not regret it.