A Burden or a Blessing?

I found this today in one of my MANY books on my shelves. I have been struggling a lot with being grateful and being a good mother to my girls. So, anyway, this helped me:

Psalm 127:3,5

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.

This book is called, "Moments Together For Couples" by Dennis and Barbara Rainey.

"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 that we are in a 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 on 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 Family Life Marriage Conferences, I'm always suprised 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 recieve 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."


I thought that this was wonderful and it helped me so much today. I must have called out to the Lord 100 times today (we went grocery shopping and to pay bills in 106 heat!) I should have called out to him 100's more.

Lord,

Thank you for our precious blessings and forgive me for EVER seeing them as anything else. I am humbled that you have entrusted these beautiful lives to me. Please give me the grace and knowledge to raise them in the love that you have given me. In Jesus name, AMEN.