Amazing

Being a mother is amazing. I am still in disbelief that God has blessed Andrew and I with the gift of parenthood! One year ago when Andrew and I married, I could not picture life being different than just the two of us. It was quite fun being able to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. We could go out for a late night date or easily leave town for a long weekend if we wanted too. Even when we found out we were expecting, a whole three weeks after we were married, it was still hard to imagine adding another member to our family!

Now, almost 3 months since Daniel was born, I can hardly remember what life was like before he was born! And I say this with joy! I don't look back on those days, as short as they were, and long for them! I look at the amazing life we have ahead of us with eager expectation! What a privilege to raise a child. To teach him to love God and to serve Him throughout the course of his life is one of the greatest blessings of life, next to marriage. O that we would have the wisdom and strength needed to direct Daniel and his brothers and sisters to come (Lord willing, of course)!

It has recently become quite a passion of mine to really stand up for the gift of children. It seems our culture has been trained to view children more as an inconvenience rather than a blessing. In fact, "mother nature" has become more valued than children! It seems we need to stop populating the earth so that nature does not become destroyed. What a bunch of hog wash! Although I am all for taking care of God's creation, I do believe that human beings are the greatest creation of all, and are of considerable more value than plants and animals. How backwards our society has become!

Anyway, people who have several children, pretty much from 4 on, are criticized and looked upon as crazy. How in the world can a person expect to think and care for their own selves when they have so many children to look after? Well, perhaps the whole purpose of our life here on earth is not to think of ourselves and our comfort, but to serve others and glorify God by producing more children who will in turn grow up and glorify God with their lives! But this isn't the thinking of modern Americans. Their thinking is more like, "A Boy for me,a girl for you, praise the Lord, now we're through!" Sigh... I guess I'm really just ranting more than anything, but I truly feel like raising a family full of children is such a blessing and a good thing! I know that God sometimes closes the womb of some, and that is in now way a reflection of their character, but for the majority of Americans, it is simply a matter of choice to be more comfortable over investing their lives in children.

When Andrew and I were at the airport a week ago, on our way to Minnesota, we were sitting next to a woman with a 8-month old little girl. We chatted a little bit and made some small talk about our children. She then asked us how many children we wanted to have. I replied that we probably wanted 5 or 6 children if the Lord was willing. Her eyes grew huge and she said, "that many?! Why do you want that many?!" She then made clear that this little girl was their first and ONLY child. Now I of course can't judge the hearts of her and her husband, but gleaning from such a reaction, they simply did not want to have to invest more of their lives into more children. Is this selfish? I don't know, I think it is, but that will probably make people mad!

I pray this thinking will not infiltrate the church, although it already has begun. Hopefully more and more Christians will glean from God's Word that children are truly a blessing and privilege and raising them is a wonderful calling. A high calling! I pray the Lord will continue to bless Andrew and I will more children in the future!