CHILDREN ARE A HERITAGE

Psalms 127:3 says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."  This means that our offspring are given to us a gift from God.  I know that there are times when we want to throw up our hands and give up.  The rearing of children takes an enormous amount of patience and consistency.  From the first moments after they are born, our children challenge us.  In the beginning,  we are challenged to give up our freedom to focus on ourselves and focus on them.  They need constant care and attention.  Sometimes this jeopardizes the husband-wife relationship, but loving and supportive parents help one another.

Then come the teenage years of driving and dating.  Our babies are now grown physically and are beginning to make important decisions.  It is a time in our children's life when they are beginning to experience life's freedoms and some parents find it difficult to "let go" a little bit. Our kids are exploring life from a different perspective than they experienced in childhood.  The choosing of a spouse is one of the most important decisions they will ever make.  In time, they will marry and move away and we will sit down and wonder, "Where did all the time go?" Even though much is said about "empty nesters," having found a renewed freedom, we can't help but feel a small hollow feeling inside us.

If we have done all that we could have done while raising our children, by providing them wonderful opportunities to study about, and to worship God, they will make a commitment to Him that will last throughout all eternity.  What a blessing it is to us to have been a part in molding the character of another human being.  When time is long gone and we are old and gray, if we have done our part, our children will see that we were a blessing to them.

Paul