At first I couldn’t see it so I turned on the porch light and peered out into the dark morning. There it was… snow. My eyes teared up. Every time it snows I cry. 

I am not an extremely emotional person but snow makes me cry. It is a reminder of grace for me. 

Though the winter is cold we get to experience the beauty of snow. Snow is a gift from God. The white powder blankets the dead, cold earth and everything looks fresh and new for a time. 

Lamentations 3:22-24

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 

This morning the snow reminded me of the mercies of God that are new every morning. As seasons and temperatures change God is still faithful to reflect his beauty, majesty and power. 

In winter He provides snow which blankets the earth with its beauty. 

In the spring when the earth is soggy and muddy, and the thunderstorms are roaring God provides daffodils and other early spring blooms. 

In the summer, for relief from the heat, God provides the coolness of water.

And of course in the fall, only God could imagine creating leaves to turn their most beautiful colors right before they die and begin to decay. 

His mercies are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness. 

God is faithful. With every change of season there is no surprise; there is death and beauty. The old season is gone and the new season is coming. If God is faithful to give us new seasons, of course God is faithful to provide new mercies for me every morning. 

Raising my kids in the church has been a great blessing. Not because they will learn to “be well behaved” or it will “look good on their college applications to have been involved in church.” It is nice because all around you there are parents who have walked in your shoes, or we could even say, “in your sweatpants.” 

The other morning God’s tender mercies arrived to me in an email from a friend in church who witnessed my frustrations with parenting from the night before.

She wrote:

A word of encouragement from Proverbs:

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

When my children were young, I wondered why the word “old” was in Proverbs 22:6.  Now I realize that when our children are young, it is the season of life when we train and train and train and train and train.  We sow for a very long time and MUCH later we reap.  Our consistency and perseverance during the younger years is exhausting, but it is worth it!  Time passes so quickly!  You will reap in a season to come, but now you are in the season of sowing and training.  Keep up the good fight!  If you need additional encouragement, the book of Proverbs was my go-to book when my kids were toddlers.

Have a day filled with the assurance of God’s promises.

What a blessing to find in my inbox that morning. 

The little years are tough. For me it is a season like the coldest winter. Where is my snow? 

We have been training…and training…and training…It takes exactly what my friend said to me in her sweet note: consistency and perseverance. It is a marathon and not a sprint. 

The goal is not good behavior, a good resume, a decent job, or that they will turn out okay. The goal is godliness. 

I don’t want my children to be good, I want them to fear the Lord, to serve the widows and orphans, to have a heart that loves God and walks with Him in repentance and faith. 

We pray a lot for and with our kids. In the past few months we have been teaching the boys to pray following ACTS model of praying: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.

I say the underlined parts and the italics are words they come up with on their own.

Adoration: God you are so…

(big, strong, mighty, you made us, you love us, you protect us)

Confession: God, I’m sorry…

(for not listening, not sharing, for hitting my brother)

Thanksgiving: Lord thank you for… 

(my family, friends, our house, for forgiving us and for loving us)

Supplication: Lord help me… 

(stay in my bed, help me obey my mom and help me love you more each day) 

There is my snow. The tears seem to flow when I listen to my kids pray. Just like when I witnessed the snowflakes falling. This is a tough season but there is grace. There are little mercies here and there. 

God is present. He is working. God is using the friends in our lives like my porch light this morning to help us see things we can’t,  to remind us that this season will pass and soon there will be a harvest. 

In parenting it can sometimes feel like we are staring out into the dark morning. The dark morning of nos and repeating the same directions over and over. 

Search for the snow. If you can’t see the beauty in the darkness find someone who has been there to shine the light and give you a little perspective. 

His mercies are new every morning. He is faithful in every season.