Photo: Britannia Willes
Children are a gift from God.
They’re a gift to us; they’re a gift to this world. They’re His children, His creation… The kingdom of heaven belongs to them (Matt 19:14). He loves them infinitely more than we ever could. He has a perfect plan for their lives. Not one of them is an accident. Not one of them was unplanned. Not one of them was unwanted. Not one of them arrived at the wrong time or the wrong place or to the wrong parents.
Not one.
How we treat our children is a reflection of how we treat Jesus. If we don’t have time for our children we don’t have time for Jesus. If we yell at our children we yell at Jesus. If we smack our children we smack Jesus. Every time we sin against our children we are spitting on Jesus and mocking him on the cross over and over again.
Sometimes I feel absolutely overwhelmingly frightened at the sheer magnitude of the responsibility. Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to break when I realize that they need more than I will ever have in me to give.
Every parent is given a monumental task… a mission… a ministry. To them. To our kids. To train them up in the way they should go (Prov 22:6). To not provoke them to anger (Eph 6:4). To love them. To teach them in humility and with patience. To speak truth into their lives and to model the fruits of the Spirit of God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23)… It’s a high calling and a daunting one.
But God is able.
Remember… whatever He has called us to do He will do it. He is the one who fed the crowd of five thousand with just two fishes and five loaves of bread (John 6:1-15) and so we are able to raise up our children even without the best of examples (or even any example at all!) … just God’s promises and our faith.
And yes… I’m mostly just writing this post to myself.
Like..very much. A miracle begins to happen when a baby is conceived. Participation with God in the creation of life. The setting in motion of the human continuum.
The real miracle that takes place is the change that parenting produces in us. We begin to take on qualities and charactaristics that were never important to us before. We learn to care for another’s needs..to love outside ourselves. Sacrifice does not seem unreasonable. Empathy becomes natural. We understand God’s love for us and the depth of the sacrifice He made on our behalf. Okay..not every parent experiences all these things, but most enter in to some extent, the meaning of unconditional love..Sigh. You have grown exponentially, Michelle..I am so glad you feel led to share your heart with us. What you have lived could easily have produced a different outcome..That you are the testimony you are is evidence that God is very near to you. Like very much.
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