Yesterday, as our family sat around the breakfast table, we had an unusually sweet time. The older children were really enjoying watching the younger children’s antics, and the younger children knew they were “performing” and loving every minute of it. My husband and I just sat and watched all of them, marvelling at this beautiful interaction. Now let me just say, they do not always interact so peacefully : – ) We have LOTS of training opportunities. But this particular meal was especially enjoyable.
And as I thought about what I was observing among my children, a thought occurred to me. If we had stopped having children after our first two were born, my children would never even know the joy of having a little baby in the house. And then I thought about all the millions of families whose children miss this incredible blessing. Even in families where there are several children, most of the time the oldest is off to school while the little ones are home, so they still miss the majority of its life. Contrary to the popular opinion that children are a burden, our younger children are one of the greatest sources of joy to our older ones; they cannot imagine life without them. It just hit me that receiving every child God gives us has brought yet another blessing I had never really thought about.
And then beyond the sheer joy of having a house full of little babies and toddlers, is the preparation that is taking place. My oldest children will be far more prepared to be mothers and fathers than a child who has rarely ever been exposed to babies. My daughters will be far better mothers than I am, praise God.
And I do want to be tender towards those who may not even have children, or for those who have one or two, and maybe regret not having more. I do not mean this post to inflict guilt or sorrow. I never mean any of my posts to do that. My purpose here, as always, is to enlighten our thinking. To bring to light all of the joys and blessing of children, whether you have made the decision to limit your family size or not. I pray that those of you who have limited your family size or are unable to bear children, will still embrace the blessing of children all the same, recognizing that it is good in the sight of the Lord to receive His blessings, and encouraging those around you in that thinking.
And for those who may be praying about the decision of having children, I pray God will show you how His ways are higher than our ways; and how His design is far better than the one the world tries to show us. There are numerous blessings that we can’t even see all at one time if we try to reason it all out. But when we just let the Lord be in control of this area, He reveals His glory, and grace, one sweet life at a time!
