An Important Lesson from Kings For an “Unimportant” Mom

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The last few months of the year are often a challenge to moms. First of all, there are the practical preparations alone of cleaning, shopping, and cooking a big holiday meal at Thanksgiving. (And don’t get me started on the potential emotional and logistic issues that are brought on when you add adult children into the mix!) Afterwards, of course, the “in-your-face-ness” of the impending Christmas season at almost every store and business we visit is enough to get your my stomach in knots. The stress alone sometimes makes me feel as if my job is purely functional; that I have no lasting influence with our kids, other than meeting our family’s physical needs. That I’m not, in the end, important.

That, of course, is not true. But it’s sometimes how I feel, at least.

Patterns in Kings and Chronicles

Quiet time one recent morning led me to the book of 2 Kings. As I started going through the list of kings, both good and bad, I have to admit that I started nodding off. Until it occurred to me that I was beginning to recognize a pattern.

Most of the chapters in 2 Kings introduce the next king in line with a brief description, one or two sentences, of his age and lineage. Somewhere in those first few verses, when describing the evil kings, there is the phrase “he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord”.

But here’s the really cool thing: each time a good king is mentioned it was usually preceded by “His mother’s name was ________; she was from _________.” See 2 Kings 14:2,3; 2 Kings 15:2,3; 2 Kings 15:33-34; 2 Kings 18:2,3; 2 Kings 22:1,2.

This same pattern is repeated in 2 Chronicles, too. See 2 Chronicles 20:31-32; 2 Chronicles 25:1,2; 2 Chronicles 26:3,4; 2 Chronicles 27:1,2; 2Chronicles 29:1,2; 2 Chronicles 34:1,2.

And beyond that is this line, found in 2 Chronicles 22:3, describing Ahaziah, an evil king of Judah: “He too followed the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him to act wickedly.” (emphasis mine) Which got me to thinking…

A mother’s ‘takeaway’ from Kings

I’m going through a season right now, and you may be, too, where I’m not feeling very influential. The real-life issues that happen to us all, the visible effects of our inevitable sins, the results of our broken humanity…well, sometimes they all rear their ugly heads at the same time.

Even for believers, seasons like that can be heavy.

But the takeaway I had from my quiet time that morning is this: hold on, mom! You can bet that all of those moms had seasons like the one I’m experiencing right now, especially considering the society and culture they lived in. I’m sure before their sons rose to the throne, they entertained doubts as to what the future would hold. After all, they were human, too.

It was only after the fact that the authors of Kings and Chronicles could write “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

Now it’s highly unlikely any of my children will become Kings or Queens, or even politicians, for that matter. But I’m holding on to the years of prayers I lifted up for them, the days spent reading and learning and getting godly counsel about parenting, and ultimately, the promises that God has given me in His Word…that my children’s lives will give Him glory.

I’m praying that my encouragement as a mom will result in my children’s lives being poured out for their heavenly Father, and that they will ultimately live lives pleasing to Him, in service to God and whomever He chooses.

So at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether or not I FEEL important. What matters is knowing that I AM important. I have a God-given role as a parent to encourage and influence the children He’s blessed me with…

Please don’t allow despair or stress or discouragement or busyness or any number of challenges this Christmas season to drown this message out, mom. What you do, only you can do. And with His help, you can raise children who will have hearts to “do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.”

And that’s an important job. For a very important mom.