By Sarah Russell
“My! You have your hands full!” I hear this for the 100th time while I’m out grocery shopping with my three little girls (ages 4 years, 2 years, and 7 months old).
“Are they ALL girls!” One says in shocking exasperation.
“Just wait until they’re teenagers!” Another says with a woeful wag of the head.
Comments from strangers can be kind at times, but more often, they are woeful and sometimes downright inappropriate.
“It’s only three babies!” I say to myself as I think of other young mothers with five, six, or even eight children.
But this is how many in our society view having children. Children are often seen as a burden. An inconvenience. By the eco-friendly crazed vegans as “horribly irresponsible to our environment!” (*Insert an image of me laughing hysterically.)
And surely, this third daughter was by accident, and you are not going to have more?!
If we were to allow ourselves to listen to the world and view children as a burden and motherhood as an eighteen-year-long prison sentence, we would surely miss out on the blessings and joy that is motherhood!
Psalm 127:3 says, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.” Psalm 127:5, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.”
I’m not here to give my opinion on how big or small a quiver is but to focus on what God says about having children.
God says that children are a heritage.
A heritage, as you know, is something passed down from an ancestor to an heir. It would be something of value and importance that would be given to a man or woman’s heirs to benefit their lives. Isn’t that the way we should feel about the children God has graciously given us?
Our children are of value and importance. They are an inheritance from our heavenly Father, not to burden our lives. They are to benefit us! What an inheritance!
The next thing the verse says about having babies is that they are not only an inheritance, but a reward! We do not deserve for the Lorreward us, but in His grace, He gives us children as a reward, once again, to be a blessing to our lives, not a burden!
Children are and always have been a gift: a reward from God.
People just don’t view them as such. Do you? Do you look down at your little ones and think, “My! What a beautiful blessing and inheritance God has given me”?
I know being in the throws of motherhood is not always easy.
Trust me, I know! I love my little darlings, and I’m so thankful for them. But there are hard, exhausting days in training little ones. Like when my little one pours Dawn dish detergent all over the carpet, or potty training is not going smoothly.
Perhaps I’m taking my two-year-old out of the church service for the fourth time for an attitude check. Or maybe I just haven’t spent enough time with the Lord that day, and I’m not as patient as I ought to be.
In those times, it’s easy to forget that these sweet little ones are meant to be blessings and to benefit our lives. But they are blessings! They really do benefit us!!
God’s Word says, “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them!” Full of children!
God desires for our hands and hearts to be full. Full of His inheritance. Full of His reward. Full of happiness over the precious little blessings that He has given us! This is a sweet lesson I’m learning as I’m endeavoring to raise my girls for the Lord - to remember in all the good days, as well as in the hard days, that God has rewarded me and given me an inheritance far above price.
Yes, my hands are full. Full of little wild blessings that giggle at anything and love me like crazy. And I ought to cherish each moment.
Are you cherishing your inheritance today Mama?
Are you happy with the handful God has rewarded you?
Take some time today to thank the Lord for the privilege and honor of being a mother to your children. Baby, toddler, teen, or adult - they are all blessings. Every age, every stage is a blessing.
And if you’re not a mother, take the time to thank the Lord for your own mother or grandmother who cherished the inheritance and reward of raising you. Thank them as well!
I am thankful for my handful!