Dish-Washing Seeds

“I don’t need to control the outcome of every single thing I’m teaching my children. I just need to plant the seeds.”

“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:7

I worry about my children's futures a lot. I wonder what sort of person they will be, what jobs they’ll have, their callings, what friends and spouses they’ll have. 

And in my worry and wonder, I tend to think that everything I’m doing now to parent them will directly affect who they are as adults. Am I doing enough? Do I teach them about Jesus enough? Do I shape their character the right way? Am I disciplining them in a way that will produce fruit filled adults? Essentially, am I controlling my children enough?

One of the biggest fights in our house is dishes. We don’t have a dishwasher, but we do have 6 people living in our house, so we have a lot of dishes. My 11-year-old and 9-year-old are required to help with dishes, but, being 11 and 9, they whine about it pretty heavily. Sometimes I think I’m going to send them out into the world someday, and they just won’t clean up after themselves or do their dishes. I wonder what more I can do to get them to take responsibility and just do the dishes?

One day, we had a particularly large amount of dishes that needed to be washed, so I broke them up into sections and told my 11-year-old that she needed to wash just one section. I walked into the kitchen a little later, and she had washed them all. When I asked if she heard me tell her to just do part of them, she responded that she just wanted to help me out by doing them all. 

And then it hit me. I don’t need to control the outcome of every single thing I’m teaching my children. I just need to plant the seeds. That’s all I can do for now. 

God has given purpose to my life, given me a metaphorical field to sow and take care of. (Thank the Lord it’s metaphorical because those plants would die if they were real, depending on my care) My children are my field to plant seeds in. I can plant the seeds, I can water the seeds, but ultimately God is doing the growing. 

And I’m so thankful that He is the one who does the growing. He knows my children better than I do, has better plans for them than I do. 

I’m ok with Him controlling the outcome. 

Action Steps:

• Reflect: What seeds are you planting in your children? What are you doing to water those seeds? And if you are planting and watering, are you then trusting God to do the growing? Or are you like me, and feel that you need to control the outcome?

Prayer: God, I put my seeds - I mean, children - in your hands. I give them over to You, to do all the growing. I am here to fulfill the purpose you gave me, to plant the seeds and to water them as best as I can. Guide me in this, because I don’t know how to do it without You. I am nothing without Your help. Thank You for the huge blessing of children. Amen.

Written by Cathrine, seed-planting mom of 4 (figuratively) 

To read more devotionals like this one, or to sign up to receive them in your inbox, click HERE.