The Surprising Privilege of Diaper Changing

The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things--that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Titus 2:3-5

Many years ago, when our oldest child was a baby, we were visiting Mark's parents home and he needed a diaper change. I was starting to gather the materials when my mother-in-law announced that she wanted to do it. I was rather surprised. I could understand her wanting to hold or play with her grandchild, but to change his diaper? When I questioned her, she responded, "I think it is a privilege to change my grandchildren's diapers. It's a way to spend special time together."

To be honest, while I was happy to change my baby's diaper, I had never thought of it as a privilege. It was just something that needed to be done. And it wasn't the last time I struggled with understanding the value of the many little things that comprised my life. Having been raised in an environment that valued Christian ministry above all, I had adopted the mistaken idea that when I was involved in visible Christian ministry I was most pleasing to God. This misunderstanding had the unintended effect of nullifying the importance of the mundane. 

However, as I grew in my faith God showed me how mistaken my thinking had been. God was not tormenting me by making parenting so time consuming. Rather, He was putting right at my fingertips hundreds of opportunities each day to be pleasing to Him, should I so choose.

How do I reconcile the time it takes to to care for my family? By faith. By faith I believe God considered the caring of husbands and children so important that he instructed older women to teach younger women how to do it effectively.  By faith I believe God has put my children in my family and the time spent caring for them is valuable. By faith I believe everything I do has the potential for bringing great glory to God. 

Even diaper changing!

Me, Jonah, Caleb (my grandson) and Marlys (my mother-in-law)

See The Upside of Suffering,

See The Myth of the "Perfect" Quiet Time.