Burden or a Blessing?

This is a devotional I received a week or so ago and I wanted to pass it along. Some of you may have got this in an email I sent out. It is a great reminder if you haven't seen this before. B-daddy and I really consider ourselves blessed with the gift of raising 2 of God's special children.

Here is something to think about.

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
Psalm 127:3,5

Many parents today feel like kids are a burden. That's not what the Bible calls them. It doesn't say, "Behold, children are a burden of the Lord," or "Burdened is the man whose quiver is full of them."

Our views have become distorted. What we see as a burden, God sees as a blessing. Some of us need to knock the windows out of our corrupted views and let the Spirit of God come into our homes and refresh our hearts and minds so we can see clearly again that children are a blessing.
Don't get me wrong. Barbara and I will be the first to tell you we are in process with our children. We have failed many times. And I have been so frustrated, after exhausting all rational reasoning, all reward systems and all "biblical approaches," that the only thing left for me to do was yell, throw a box of Kleenexes at the floor, slam the door and walk out-just like my kids do. Which just convinces me that one of God's greatest purposes for parents is to bring us face-to-face with our own depravity.

We want life to be easy, or at least bearable. And when children make our lives difficult, we begin to feel they are burdens. But we fail to realize what God makes clear-our children are gifts from God. God has given us our children for His glory and our good.

When I speak at our FamilyLife Marriage Conferences, I'm always struck by how surprised couples are when I explain that our mates are gifts from God. Why are they so astounded? Don't they know our God? He wants to bless us. He's out for our best interests!

In the same way, you need to receive your children as gifts from God. If you do, your whole attitude will change. No longer will you try to change your kids...no longer will you consider them burdens. Instead, you'll view them as true blessings from God entrusted to you.


Discuss: How do you view your children-as burdens or blessings?
Pray: With your mate, acknowledge your children as gifts from God.