My forty third birthday is approaching...the end of this summer...and I am already feeling angst over growing older and one day not being able to have any more babies. How awesome it is to know a God-given life is forming within your womb. It truly is the greatest gift God has given women, and there is a deep desire born within us to nurture life from our earliest days. I can remember being very small and carrying around my life-size baby with me on my hip everywhere I went. Women are formed in their mother's wombs by God and sent forth into this world to bring forth more life. God has richly blessed my husband and I with four beautiful children. When my oldest was an only child for those first nine and a half years, I felt truly blessed to even know pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood that one time, but I now have four children to nurture and love, and the love continues to grow exponentially. As tough as some days are - and believe me I have stories that would make most people want to run - the gifts we receive as a family from these children are beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
We as humans have so much love to give to our offspring, in fact, that when we don't have children, we seek to give that love to someone else. Have you noticed the multitudes of empty-nesters going to the malls with their dogs in strollers? Maybe it's just here in South Florida - a fact that's quite possible actually - but nonetheless it is happening a lot here. I see so many people treating their pets as if they are children. People will even say that they prefer having pets to children because they are less work...yes, and much less reward. Pets come and go, but our children are our children for all eternity. The work you put into them does not go unnoticed - by them...or by God. "You reap what you sow" is definitely true when it comes to raising children. I am watching my teenage son grow into an intelligent, sensitive, artistic, loving, handsome, Christian young man. He is steeped in his faith and he knows right from wrong. I can see before my eyes tangible rewards for all the so-called work it takes to raise a child. It is awe-inspiring and an experience like no other. No one can ever take all our memories together away. I love him so much my heart hurts at the thought of him leaving for college. I feel this way about all my children though, which is hard for even me to comprehend. How are our hearts so big that we can just keep loving, and actually desire to love more with each child.
We, as God's people, have a desire to love. That is because we spring from God...and God is love. We desire to be with Him all our lives so oftentimes we seek that love through others not knowing it is really Him we are seeking. Through loving, we get a glimpse of God's love for us. He loved us so much that he died for us on a cross. We, as parents, would die for our children. We know the love. We know what it feels like to create a little being from our own flesh and blood, raise him, watch him fall, feel his pains, watch his successes, and feel his happiness. When we have more than one child we see how our children interact with each other and learn from each other. It is a beautiful thing to watch how large Christian families work together in their love for each other and for God. It is so unique nowadays to actually see, but God wants us to be fruitful and multiply - it is how we are made. In our fast-paced glossy modern lives, that message seems too simplistic. But it is the TRUTH. God made us to make beautiful God-loving families. Just remember the way God chose to come to this earth. He chose to be born as a tiny helpless baby formed in the womb of a young woman and born into a humble family. He came here as a baby. His greatest love for us was to send a child to us to save us. In a sense, our children save us everyday. We are forced to grow ever closer to God through choices we make as parents every moment of every day. Our children are our greatest gifts from God!
Say YES to LIFE!
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