Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. – Proverbs 14:4
Probably about a year ago, this verse became very encouraging to me as a mom. You see, I began to tire of how messy our house was, even though I was almost constantly busy cleaning. Regardless of how many hours I spent cleaning, I just couldn’t get our house sparkling clean and keep it that way for any amount of time like I could before we had kids. I felt discouraged.
This verse isn’t talking about children yet I felt the principle carried over perfectly to my situation. Reading it gave me a new lease on being a mom. While it is my job to train our children in our home to one day be able to manage their own, some mess is unavoidable. We have precious little “oxen” in our “manger”, ones that my husband and I love deeply and are so thankful for. I could have a cleaner house now, but it would have meant never having had children. The thought of life without our exuberant first born and cuddly second brought tears to my eyes.
As I meditated on the second half of the verse I couldn’t help but think about the “spiritual crops” that result as children are raised in their imperfect homes to love a perfect savior and others. That the messes mommies and daddies endure are a small sacrifice to be made for the kingdom. The discouragement I had been feeling for weeks began to dissipate. Suddenly a house filled with children and the messes they bring took on new meaning for me. I hope it does for you as well!
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