Be faithful, even when you don’t see the fruit. Keep going back to God and trusting His promises. It is not a fool’s errand to run at his command. Because really, it all hinges on his faithfulness. You can count on it: there will be fruit after His faithfulness.
I look at my son, and I am amazed at how kind he can be. He has begun to default to politeness, and “I’m sorry,” and really jumping to quick obedience. He’s by no means perfect, but we’re starting to see real fruit. And, by God’s grace, this fruit was not an accident.
I remember early on realizing that parenting was not for the fainthearted. This same child poses some really difficult challenges. First, he was just physically challenging. He was big for his age, so that meant he could reach a lot of things that he shouldn’t have. Also, he was strong willed from the start. There was real constant trouble for longer than we thought possible. Faithful discipline was challenging. Parenting was hard.
Routinely, I would go to my wife and say, “What does God’s word say?”