In my experience, there is nothing more humbling than being a parent. You have to set aside your dreams and aspirations, professional duties and goals, etc. to serve your family.
Imagine this scenario:
You have tons of work to do. You wake up early to get it done. Then, what do you hear? The kid is crying. Screaming. Why? A whole host of possible reasons: diaper change, bad dream, hungry, scared, who knows?
The key is: how do we react as a parent?
Take this morning for instance.
Today I have a big test. I have oral exams for a MA degree in theology. I have a lot to do–an almost infinite amount of re-reading and studying that I could be doing.
Then my 1 and 1/2 year old woke up crying. She’s always been a horrible sleeper. She’s the real reason I started getting up at 5:00am to get my work done.
Here is where the sanctification part comes in:
My reaction is usually mixed feelings of frustration, anger, resentment, grief, and fear that I won’t accomplish what I’m trying to do. What is the source of these feelings (also known as the Resistance)? Pride.
This is my time! I have work to do! Why can’t you be a good sleeper! (Of course, I don’t say that but I’m basically thinking it.)
What is the alternative? Love. Service. Humility.
I love her to death but it doesn’t always make it easy to set aside my life for hers.
This is sanctification at work within me. I can’t react in love on my own. I need God’s grace. I need a heart configured by love. Only by entering into love can I truly be the parent I’m called to be.
Jared — hope the oral exams went well! Thanks for articulating a struggle I’m engaged in frequently. Even though my kids are a little older than yours, the interruptions continue in different ways. It’s not so much the middle of the night wake-up calls now (though we got one of those last night when I was trying to be rested and alert for a morning radio appearance!) but the drawn-out bedtime routine, squabbles over toys, etc., all of which conspire to derail my precious free time. And yet those are the precise times when grace might do its best work in us.