My days were slow yet full. Feed the baby; change the diaper; do the dishes; replace the paci. Task by task, the day ticked by. I was thrilled to be a first-time mom, but these newborn days were filled with a monotony that appeared to lack eternal purpose. My desire was to raise little image-bearers who would glorify God and have hearts for the least of these. But where did discipleship fit with sleep schedules, bottle types, and swaddling?
In the midst of my discouragement, I received a liturgy written for changing diapers. These lines jumped off the page:
By love and service
I am tending a budding heart that,
rooted early in such grace-filled devotion,
might one day be more readily inclined
to bow to your compassionate conviction. (Every Moment Holy, 1:53)
A spark was lit, and a new belief began to form. I was much nearer to tending a budding heart than I realized. The first twelve months of my daughter’s life were not just about keeping her alive, but about laying a foundation of faithfulness from which the rest of our family discipleship could rise.
Hard, High, Happy Calling
I know the late-afternoon dread that creeps over you because the night ahead may be filled with loneliness and void of deep rest. I have fought the irrational fear that refuses to budge no matter how many promises you throw at it. I have looked in the mirror and had the disorienting experience of not recognizing whom I saw. I have wrestled to make the right decision without finding peace. I get it. So isn’t adding the task of discipleship overcomplicating this already-fraught season of motherhood?
I want to squeeze your shoulders and say that intentional early discipleship will not make these struggles worse; instead, it will bring light and life. The imperative for parents is to make known God’s works to our children and our children’s children (Deuteronomy 4:9). Tell of his salvation, that he heard our cries for help, came down from heaven, and set us free from our bondage to sin so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord (Psalm 102:18–20). Go and make disciples (even little ones!) by teaching them to obey God’s word (Matthew 28:19–20).
What a high calling. One with eternal implications. When we keep this end in mind, the newborn challenges will bloom into moments of steadfastness and purpose (James 1:3–4). Will they still be hard? Yes, but we will be saved from much fruitless navel-gazing that leads only to more pain. We will be welcomed into a life of significance and joy even when our baby is strapped to our hip.
If you are a first-time mom, please know that this season does not have to drag by. The baby days, like the rest of motherhood, offer a space in which God can be magnified and enjoyed — right now by moms, and later (we pray) by our children. So, consider with me two ways that a mom can care for a baby’s body while attending to her (and her child’s) soul.
1. Stay active while still.
Shortly after my daughter was born, I was mourning how unproductive I felt while nursing. Hours of each day (and night), my body was still — and my mind mostly empty. I began to be convicted that seemingly boring moments like these were times to steward to the glory of God. Instead of gazing at my phone or worrying about the stage of my daughter’s development, I could speak with my heavenly Father. What a glorious way to spend my still moments!
The habit of prayer blesses our children; it also blesses us. Prayer is not a throwaway habit, only useful when we need something. It’s a privilege and a lifeline to praise and petition the God of the universe (Hebrews 4:16). We can spend these early days of our children’s lives training our souls to turn to our Maker in all of life’s moments. The result will be an anchored mother who glorifies God as she calls upon and happily submits to him (Hebrews 6:19).
Discipling our newborns begins here — with prayer. We can receive these mundane days as a good gift from our compassionate Father. He is giving us hours upon hours to learn to call out to him. And if we let it, this habit can shape our mothering for the rest of our days. No matter our child’s age, season, or proximity to us, praying will always tune our hearts to the melody of God’s goodness and sovereignty.
What a beautiful foundation we lay for our babies when we bathe their lives in prayer. What if, from their earliest moments, they saw and heard their momma crying out to God? They will see what it looks like to believe that God hears us (1 John 5:14), they will hear what it sounds like to believe that he revives the contrite heart (Isaiah 57:15), and they will rest in the comfort of a mother who does not fear anything that is frightening (1 Peter 3:6). For in the mundane stillness of motherhood, they have heard her cast all her anxieties on the Lord (1 Peter 5:7).
If you are unsure of how to begin this spiritual discipline, may I encourage you to start with God’s words to us? I learned to pray Scripture from my mother, as I watched her faithfully pray Colossians 1:9–13 over our family for many years. I can testify that my own prayer life has been transformed by praying God’s word. It guides me away from the self-centered prayers that naturally come to my lips and pulls me up to pray with God at the center. Can I challenge you to start small? Try jotting Colossians 1:9 on a sticky note and putting it by your sink where you do dishes. Trust me, you will begin to see your prayer life grow.
2. See glory in tiny toes.
Jonathan Edwards believed that “the tiniest details in everything, from spiders and silkworms to rainbows and roses, all pour forth the knowledge about Christ and his ways” (Rejoicing in Christ, 25). Encouraged by his vision of seeing everything in the world as a pointer to God’s glory, I began to strain my eyes to see past my never-ending tasks to what I could learn about Christ. Soon, God was revealing his awesome character, no matter how trivial the moment or how hidden I felt. My thoughts began to change from stressing about how well my daughter slept to God-inspired awe.
Look with me at some examples of how the newborn days pour forth the knowledge of Christ (Psalm 19:2). The way her little hand grasps your finger can remind you of how we ourselves can grasp the mighty hand of our Father (Psalm 63:8). The first time he smiles, we can remember that as believers God has made his face to shine upon us (Numbers 6:25). And when our children cry out to communicate that they need us, we can remember that we are likewise able (and commanded) to make our requests known to our Lord (Philippians 4:5–7).
As mothers, we get the privilege of drawing our children’s attention to these realities from the earliest moments. Seeing and speaking about the glory of God — both in the world and in the gospel — will weave discipleship into the routines of family life. Before you know it, your little one will point to the sky and say, “God made that!” because she has been watching and listening to you enjoy the glory of Christ.
Fellowship of Discipling Moms
Every sleepy step you take without grumbling glorifies God. Every bottle washed with prayerfulness glorifies God. Every rock and bounce while you sing songs of praise glorifies God. Every tear you cry while you fight to rest in God’s providence glorifies him. Faithfulness to little souls is not wasted. It has the potential to bear fruit for generations.
As Christian mothers, we can model and call each other to this kind of joyful intentionality. I mourn the amount of time I wasted complaining about my newborn woes to other moms. Gospel friendship connected by shared experience disintegrated into discussions of whose baby slept the worst. But what if we lamented the pain, turned to the only one who can help, and then shared ideas for how to root our children (and ourselves) in the truth? Flooding the newborn days with discipleship would help us communally fight for obedience when we feel the impulse to grumble (Philippians 2:14). Imagine the ripple effects through our families and churches if our motherhood circles became think tanks for intentional discipleship!
Right now, you are laying kindling from which your little one’s faith may one day spark. Salvation is not ours to give, but we are tasked with the high and holy charge of discipling in such a way that makes God’s glorious character clear. My prayer is that we see a new generation of Christians whose whole life was built on knowing and loving God, even from the newborn days.
