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When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
Luke 2:48

After having what I like to call a “low point” in my mothering career, I began my quiet time searching Scripture for a mother of a preschooler. I wanted to know if I was alone in my struggles to be patient and loving in all circumstances.

I found that Scripture doesn’t give us many examples of moms actually “training up their children.” As much as I long for specific examples of little John lying and how his mom handled it, I think God knew that giving us those examples would actually trap us. We would follow them too closely. God didn’t include discipline in Scripture (in my opinion) because my children are different from anyone in Scripture. And I am different from any mother in Scripture. How biblical mothers handle a situation may not work for me - and that would only frustrate me when the “technique of Hannah,” for example, didn’t fix my kid.

But this passage, Luke 2:41-51, this is exactly what I need. Mary, the chosen mother of our Savior, wasn’t perfect. She blew her lid at Jesus…a child who was perfect. I LOVE that. I take great comfort in that…not because I want to revel in my faults and my lack of patience and my anger, or even because I take joy in someone else’s sin, but because I fully trust that God loved Mary with all His heart. He trusted her with His Son. And yet, she struggled. If He can give her grace…He for sure can give me grace – for I have children who are not perfect.

I look at Mary’s response to her child, Jesus, here. She has just realized that she accidentally forgot Jesus at the temple. She asks him WHY have you treated US (me & your father) like this? Do you know ALL that I have done for you? I can relate to her frustration here and her response – it’s much like mine toward my own daughters at times.

She made it about her. Christ wasn’t following the script! But, Christ wasn’t doing anything wrong. He has to answer to God before Mary. Perhaps Mary was in the wrong for leaving him. Who knows, who cares. But sometimes, when I am in her position – panicked and embarrassed, perhaps in front of family and friends or in a situation where I cannot control my child or dealing with a behavior that I have been over with my child and I KNOW they know better, I respond the same way. I yell – and when I yell, I make it all about me.

I shall take heart. Mary was “highly favored” by God (Luke 1:28). And she didn’t get it perfect. I have to trust that I, too, am favored by God and He knows I’m not going to mother perfectly either. That’s not an excuse…but it is oddly encouraging to me as I long to be better at this mom thing. God has grace (and patience) for me!

Written by
Holly Hauskins