“NO, I will NEVER do what you want me to do. Never. NEVEEEEEERRR!!!” His footsteps pounded down the hall, followed by the sharp slam of his bedroom door.
Ah, you’re probably thinking, the teenage years. Those are tough.
Nope. He’s three. THREE.
I stared down the hall after my Drama King. Wow. So many little rebellion issues to address. Probably a great opportunity for a teachable moment. Grace. The gospel. All that.
But in that moment, I had zero desire to deal with any of it.
No one has ever called me lazy. Honestly, I don’t think anyone is brave enough. I keep my children fed, clothed, and alive—no small feat, in and of itself. Laundry gets (sort of) done, dishes get (sort of) washed, and bathrooms get cleaned regularly. (Okay, that last one was a lie, but it felt good to type, so we’ll just go with it.)
My to do list is super impressive and every checkbox is slashed right down the center with a heavily inked check mark. BAM. Accomplished, productive, successful.
The exact opposite of lazy.
Right?
But as I stared down the hall, my true bent toward laziness stared right back at me in the form of a freshly slammed bedroom door. No one would know if I just let the issue fizzle and die. If I waited long enough, my son would probably forget why he was angry and I’d come out of it with some extra minutes of alone time.
No one has ever called me lazy. But can I admit something?
Some days, I can be the world’s laziest mom.
Let’s be honest—discipling a child’s heart is much harder work than meeting their daily physical needs. And it is so easy to hide behind the busyness and ignore my children’s spiritual health.
I can’t discipline my son because I need to finish loading the dishwasher.
I can’t address that instance of disrespect because I need to focus on this writing deadline.
I can’t do a family devotion tonight because I’m just tired.
The world looks at us and our lists of accomplishments and says, Wow, you’re amazing.
But God’s word evaluates us and says, There’s more at stake here than just a To Do List. You have these children for a short time. Don’t neglect their hearts. Don’t be lazy.
Most days, my flesh wants to run to my secret candy stash and stare blankly at the wall rather than walk to my son’s room to address his disobedience. And if I were parenting for today only, I might do just that.
But by Christ’s strength—and only by his strength—I can fight the inherent laziness in my heart and perform the hard, inconvenient acts of discipleship that I pray will build my son and daughter into a godly man and godly woman.
No one has ever called me lazy. But laziness lives in me. It lives in us all. And if we’re not careful, our laziness today will impact our children’s hearts tomorrow and forever.
My dear fellow parents: the dishes, the laundry, the deadline, and the candy stash can wait. Let’s throw off laziness and do the hard work of teaching and discipling our children in the daily mundane. And let’s start doing it today.
Mary Holloman 
Totally true 🙂