The Gift of Children

August, 2002

by: Brock Bolde

Have you ever received a gift that you thought was the coolest of the cool? I mean it was perfect! So perfect that you thought to yourself, “I will appreciate this gift until the day I die.” While these gifts don't come along every day, I am confident that many of us have either experienced the joy of giving or receiving this type of gift. And the thing that I've noticed about gifts, even really cool gifts, is that they begin to lose their appeal after a while. Before long, that CD that you HAD to have starts sitting in a pile with all your other CD's! That outfit that was designed with you in mind, starts to look like it was designed for someone else! Many gifts start to pale in comparison when put up against their new and improved versions.

As far as “things” go, there is nothing wrong with a gift losing some of its glitz and glamour. But a gift that comes from the hand of God should never begin to lose its appeal. For a gift from God is like no other gift. What can compare to the incredible gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9)? What can we liken to His spiritual gifts that offer unity amongst a very diverse body (1 Corinthians 12)? Or what might we compare to His gift of children (Psalm 127:3)? Gift of children!?!Some of you might be saying that “I was tracking with you up until the point about the kids!” But God's Word is clear in stating to us that children are a gift of the Lord. And while many of us don't have a problem accepting that when we first bring that little bundle of joy home from the hospital, many of us must confess to our failure to treat them as such as time passes. Like a gift that loses its appeal, many children begin to lose the preciousness that they once had in their parent's eyes. I am in no way stating that the parents have lost their love for their children, I am simply stating that many parents fail to treat their children as “a gift of the Lord” once they get past a certain age.

Parenting is an enormous responsibility — one that should never be entered into lightly. And yet being a parent is a gift that the Lord gives to us! It would be my hope and prayer that none of us would ever view this gift as an inconvenience. I beg to God that more of us would properly care for and nurture our gifts from Him as they transition from infancy, to elementary school, to middle school, to high school, to college, and beyond. May God give us the strength to “teach them diligently” and impart in them a proper fear and understanding of His glory and splendor. We have been given a gift from the hand of God - let us be sure to treat him/her as such!