What comes to mind when you think of the word faithful? Usually when I think of that word, it is in terms of marriage, such as being a faithful spouse, or in terms of church, such as faithfully attending church or serving in ministry. I have to admit I have never considered faithfulness as relating to me as a mother. And if I ever did, I certainly would have thought I was being a faithful mother. After all, I am with my children almost every hour of every day. What could be more faithful than that?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, faithful means ” having or showing true and constant support or loyalty.” By that definition, am I still as faithful of a mother as I thought I have been? Yes, I am here to physically support my children at all times, but what about spiritually? Am I truly, constantly, and loyally supporting my children’s spiritual needs?

My children need to see the heart of Jesus in me. They need to see that no matter what they do, I will never stop loving them and never consider them a burden. Although I think my children know that, am I constantly, faithfully, showing them?

Today at lunch my 2-year-old spilled her noodles all over herself and the floor for the umpteenth time this month. I immediately felt myself getting frustrated at yet another mess I had to clean up. I started to say something to her out of exasperation when the Lord put this verse on my heart:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins…” -1 John 1:9

Can you imagine if every time I made a mistake, my Heavenly Father reacted with frustration? Can you imagine the Lord talking down to me for yet another one of my messes that He had to clean up? I wouldn’t want to confide in a Father like that. I wouldn’t feel loved by a Father like that. I would find it hard to trust a Father like that.

Fortunately, my Heavenly Father is not like that. He loves me even when I am a mess. He is faithful to forgive me of my sins, no matter how many times I foolishly repeat them. And I love Him with all my heart and soul because of it.

That is the kind of love I want to show my children. The kind of love I want to live out in my home. Faithfully loving my family. Faithfully forgiving my family. Showing the heart of Jesus to them no matter how many times they spill the noodles, or the water, or whatever mess it is that they are getting themselves into. Right now my children are young, so the messes they make are easy to clean up. I want to show them now that I will faithfully be there for them, so that when they are older and have messes in their lives that aren’t taken care of by a few paper towels, they will trust me enough to come to me and let me help them. I want them to trust my faithfulness.

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