Children - our reward

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth.

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. – Psalm 127.3-5

I love kids. I love the youth and exuberance and joy and innocence and fun and mischievousness and love and joy that they give. We are living in a day that misses far too much those things and instead sees children as pests or bothers or inconveniences or something to be avoided. More and more couples are choosing to delay or postpone or even choosing not to have children because they are seen as too must of a bother and as too limiting or restricting or hindering.

But God’s word has a whole different view of children and God’s people need to look carefully at what God has to say.  

God says that children are our ultimate heritage, they are a reward. They are like arrows in the hands of a warrior as they are the way to carry our lives on to future generations. They ought to cause us to be happy and blessed and not to feel frustrated or bothered.

Children always had a special place in the word of God. Of all the places where we see the focus on them the most obvious is when a group of children came to see Jesus and His disciple tried to send them away. Of course, we know that instead of Jesus doing that He told the disciples to let the children come to Him. He told the disciples that children were a picture of those who would be in His kingdom.

I am so glad for our six children and I am thrilled that so far they have given us twelve grandchildren. I loved it when our children were young and I love seeing our grandchildren. They are a special reward and I thank God for each of them. I pray that they will be the heritage that Mary and I will leave behind.