Pits. Parenting. Praise

The Pit

The pit is something I know all too well. The pit is vicious, blinding, unforgiving, and better yet, crippling. I will spare you the gory details of just how many pits I have fallen into. For some, the pit of grief and heartache is a death, the loss of a baby, the loss of a job, a divorce; or if you’re like me, a few of each of those things. The thing is, the event or events that throw you into said pit are not likely what keeps you there. It’s a culmination of us doing our best to get back up, push through, seek help, and getting knocked down again. For me, it seems like the second I am about to throw my leg over the side and climb out, something comes along and unhinges my fingers from the edge, sending me plummetting back down; feeling like I will never hit the bottom. The thing is, for us, the pit still requires parenting.

The Parenting

Parenting is hard, and its even harder when you feel crippled by thoughts, fear, or heartache. Proverbs 22:6 says “Start off children in the way they should go and even when they are old they will not turn from it”. As parents, it is our divine command to parent our children with honesty, discipline, and love. I wish I could say our babies will not face pits of their own, but they will. So as parents, we parent through the pit. If for no other reason, so that our kids return to the ways that Jesus commands us to trudge through the difficult times. Parenting was appointed to you, for you, to be God’s ambassador to those specific little (or not so little) people. The way we approach the pit is the way our kids will likely approach theirs in the future just as we see in Proverbs.

The Praise

In scripture, we also learn that on the other side of these battles is a greater view. When we climb out, we know there is hope and wholeness and through it all, Jesus is good. The only way to truly get through the pit is to practice the praise. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-3). Isn’t that how we want to parent and mirror our faith? Steadfast in the way of the Lord who can bring us from the pit. In Kari Jobe’s new song, “Your Nature”, she says “You will restore the years that shame has stolen. You keep the promises that you have spoken. I know this wasteland will be whole again, cause its your