The Narrow Way

They don’t see the midnight prayers.
The unanswered texts you still pray over.
The way your heart breaks
when the ones you poured into
start to walk away from the flame.

Spiritual motherhood and fatherhood
isn’t about being honored.
It’s about being available.
It’s not about titles
it’s about tears.

Like Paul said in Galatians 4:19,
“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…”

This is what it means to carry someone in the Spirit.
You don’t just teach them.
You travail for them.

You get the late-night phone calls.
You feel the ache when they fall.
You celebrate their victories like a parent in the front row.
And sometimes
you carry the fire for them
until they learn to carry it themselves.

And yes
sometimes they leave.
Sometimes they forget who lit the match.
Sometimes they break your heart.
And you still bless them anyway.
Because love isn’t ownership
it’s sacrifice.

Jesus washed Judas’s feet.
He restored Peter after the denial.
He broke bread with the very ones
who would scatter when the fire got hot.

But He loved them still.
He formed them still.
He poured out with no guarantee
they’d stay.

That’s the cost.
But oh, the glory.

Because when one stays
when one runs after God with everything in them
when one young soul says,
“I remember what you taught me…”
every tear becomes seed.
Every prayer becomes oil.
And every ounce of labor
becomes legacy.

So carry them.
Even when it hurts.
Even when it’s quiet.
Even when your name is forgotten
but your fire lives on in their bones.

Because this is the Kingdom:
sons and daughters who become flames
because someone chose to burn
with them,
for them,
and before them.