Why Are Children A Gift From God?

Because God said so. “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.” (Psalm 127:3-5). 

Indeed, Children are a gift from God.

They are also a gift because of the following:

1. They teach us love: Love is when we like someone else more than we like ourselves. Children often make us like them more than ourselves early on. I cannot imagine any mom leaving her kid astray and not helping her son or daughter in times of need, assuming that she is in good mental health. If Sophia needs my help, in Christ I say, I will do what I can to provide and protect her because I like her more than I like myself. I can say the same for my wife.
2. They teach us self-sacrifice:  Children are labor intensive and need a lot of attention especially when they are young. They don’t have the ability to provide for themselves which inevitably leads us to put their needs ahead of ours. They are dependent on their daddy and mommy to eat and to be taken care of especially when they are sick or sad. As a parent, you will find yourself engaging in self-sacrifice, e.g, going to the hospital at 4:15am because your kid has a fever or spending your disposable income buying them toys and happy meals to make them happy and smile… which are clearly examples of self sacrifice, I must add. Parents (responsible ones) choose to provide for their kids first before thinking about themselves.
3. They teach us discipline: Sophia eats at 7:00pm and goes to bed around 8:00pm, everyday. She wakes us up promptly at 6:55am so she can start her daily duties. Consequently, we are awake in the bathroom with her at 7:05am brushing our teeth and getting ready to eat breakfast by 7:15am. We then take her to school promptly by 7:40am or so every morning, Monday to Friday. You get the point! Children helps us to be more discipline, especially with time, which is in itself a big blessing for responsible adults.
4. They teach us self-control: Small children makes us calmer. Let me say this: Sophia makes me very calm, especially during the weekends. I’m much calmer with Sophia than with my parents which historically have made me quite calm. I would say that my daughter Sophia helps me a lot in this area, quite a lot in fact. I have become much calmer because of children which literally makes children a blessing in our lives. Because kids sometimes lack self-control and can be impulsive, adults who are invested in the lives of their kids are able to help them out in order to avoid such situations and consequently be more self-controlled themselves. The former results in parents making less elementary mistakes relating to lack of emotion control.
5. They teach us gentleness: Gentleness can be defined as the quality of being kind, tender, or mild-mannered. A kind person engages with a softness of action towards others, like speaking without screaming or legitimately helping others to cope with the many challenges that they experience in all arenas of life. Do you see why God tells us that children are a gift from him? Indeed, they are.  Unkindness and brutality are short lived and destructive in this world. We are to be kind and glorify God above everything. Children helps us with that.
6. They teach us patience: I’m a very patient person by nature. However, Sophia made me even more patient than before. A child sometimes does stupid things which can make any well behaved parent/human being impatient. Kids slow you down and demand that you do things on their own time, they way. Many even scream quite loud in order to get what they want in their own time. A good parent don’t always fold to his children’s wishes, though. Patience is a requirement for raising children according to God’s laws (Ecclesiastes 7:9).  We learn a great deal of patience from kids, that’s fore sure.
7. They help us when we are old: Not only that! They also help our parents to live a longer life. Sometimes, a grandchild is all that older people really have to look for in their lives — Seeing their grandchildren. Watching your parents happy and playing with your son and seeing your child smiling back in a blessing in itself which in turn become an indirect blessing to us. A kid in his or her teens can help their parents a lot inside (and outside) of the house which can be quite a blessing to any person needing to rest after a long day at work.

A man with children helps himself and his community including the church.  How much are kids worth? The answer is: I can’t calculate a fair number because children is a blessing from God. They are a heavily gift to us. They teach us direct and many times indirect lessons about love, self-sacrifice, self control, gentleness, patience…

Because… “Grandchildren are the crown of old men, And the glory of sons is their fathers” (Proverbs 17:6). Blessed are the ones who have a child spirit because they shall inherit the kingdom of God, as taught to us in Matthew 18:2.