Quiet Times for Moms of Littles
Editor’s Note:
This is the twelfth in a collection of spiritual reflections on the famous passage on Love in 1 Corinthians 13, written and compiled at the end of 2019. Two of our sisters in Christ – Jan Mitchell and Mary Shapiro (see their bios at the end of this article)– lead a group of young mothers and wanted to create a quiet time series for them on the theme of Love. This series is the fruit of that effort.
1 Corinthians 13:7 NIV
“It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
Some additional translations:
ESV – Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
ERV – Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope and never quits.
TLB – If you love someone, you will always believe in him, always expect the best of him and always stand your ground defending him.
The Passion – Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best of others, Love never takes failure as defeat – for it never gives up.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition of Trust:
TRUST… 1) Firm belief in the character, strength or truth of someone or something. 2) A person or thing in which confidence is placed.
I truly do not understand how such a small word can stir up so many emotions. Emotions such as fear, panic, relief, joy, hurt, comfort and peace. Maybe more of these are my emotions but, come on, you have to admit that trust is a tough thing to do at times especially, if it has been broken. The concept that love always trusts hasn’t been an easy one for me, but as I have studied this word, I have come to realize that above all, trust is freeing!
The only time I have really ever heard 1 Corinthians 13 read has been at weddings. I have always thought it was written to cover all aspects of what true love in a marriage should look like and it is that! However, many scholars think that Paul wrote this to address the many issues he saw within the church in Corinth. This particular verse (13:7) is thought to have been written to directly address Paul’s rebuke of the lawsuits the believers were bringing against each other. (1 Corinthians 6:1-8). These lawsuits, in Paul’s words, were trivial and needed to be dealt with among the body of believers and not out in the world. Love that trusts would seek other ways to solve issues.
The city of Corinth during this time seems a lot like our world now. The world around us does not teach us to love, much less trust anyone or anything. Just over this past year, we have been blasted with being told that everything we hear is “fake”, we have witnessed hate, violence, threats and the pressure to find fault and to prove others wrong. It is easy to fall into this pattern and to join the world and we can become hard, unloving and untrusting people. So, what is it that we need to remember through this all? Love always trusts!
I do not know where you are with the trust issue in your life. I can only tell you that this has been an area that I have struggled with for years. I would draw a line in the sand and would not cross it, well let’s say I would keep redrawing it, until now. Now I see that in doing this I haven’t been loving.
First of all, I haven’t been loving God (WOW, there it is) and secondly, I haven’t been loving those around me like I should. If I haven’t been loving God, then I really haven’t been able to love people the way he wants me to. Since love and trust feed off of each other I have been unable to trust. Love trusts God. How freeing is that? We love God, so we can trust God. I mean why not? He knows better than we do!
Proverbs 3: 5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”
Okay, okay, so I know what some of you are thinking, "so I just need to trust everyone and go with whatever." No, by all means no! Trust does not mean that you have to be naïve or gullible. In Matthew 10:10, Jesus tells his disciples,
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves”.
Jesus himself had times that he withheld trust. John 2:23-25 reads,
“Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”
We don’t have to close our eyes and just trust. We can choose to love God, which means we can trust God and have confidence that he will bring good things out of it all. Freeing, right?
I know this is being written to all you mothers out there so let’s address our children and God. I am sure there are times while you are loving and trusting the people in your life that you still find it a little hard to turn your children over to God, to really trust and to believe that he will take care of them. As a mother of older children and as a rather new Mimi, I still find it hard to let go and to let God. This, however, is exactly what we need to do
We need to stop trying to control all aspects of our children’s lives. What if the things we fear or try to protect them from are the very things that God wants to use to bring them to him? Have you ever just stopped and realized that your children are gifts? God thought that you were the perfect person to mold/shape/love/protect this tiny human. He entrusted them to you! Get it? He trusts you with them! Pretty amazing right, but pretty scary at the same time.
There is a big ole world out there and that can make us fearful, but the bible tells us in Psalms 56:3-4:
But in the day that I am afraid, I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart. What harm could a man bring to me? With God at my side, I will not be afraid of what comes. The roaring praises of God fill my heart as I trust his promises.
We can trust God! We need to be constantly lifting our children up in prayer. Our children need to see us loving God and from that, they can see and hear us trusting God. We need our children to see us trusting others. They also need to see how, when trust is broken, that love can help repair it. That all starts with our love for God. We need to show and teach them they too can trust in God and trust in us. This mean old world will chip away at that, but if we help them establish a firm understanding early, they will be way ahead of the game. God has them. Isn’t that freeing?
I found this in one of the commentaries I read and wanted to share it with you. Roy E Ciampa and Brian Rosner tell us this about trusting God in The First Letter to the Corinthians.
“Always trusts…This is not about always trusting those around us, who are often not worthy of such trust, but about trusting the one who calls us to love others and living out that love for others as a reflection of our trust in him.”
We need to trust in God more than we need to trust in people. People will disappoint us. God will not. Isn’t that freeing?!
Jan Mitchell : Jan has been a disciple for over 40 years. She and her husband, Mitch, have been married for 43 years, been on staff at 6 different churches, have 2 children and 3 grandchildren. She is a die-hard Wolfpack fan, and enjoys spending time teaching and training, traveling and playing outside with their grandchildren. She currently lives in the greater Raleigh, NC area.
Dr. Mary Shapiro is currently the Director of the ADHD Clinic at Duke Medical School's Southern Regional Area Health Education Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD, behavior disorders, and other childhood conditions. For the 30 years prior to moving to North Carolina, she and her husband, Dr. Michael Shapiro, were in private practice in Athens, Georgia, where they served children and adults in predominately rural and underserved areas. She completed her PhD in Educational Psychology at the University of Georgia in 1984 and interned in the Department of Neurology at the Medical College of Georgia. She and her husband have lectured extensively (both domestically and abroad) on topics related to child psychology, parenting, marriage, adoption, and mental health issues in a Christian context. They have authored two publications for Discipleship Press International; “Rejoice Always: A Manual for Christians Facing Emotional Challenges” and “Understanding Sexual Behavior in Children: How to be Proactive in Educating and Protecting your Children.
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