Welcome to week 19 of Mummy Meditation!  If you didn't catch last weeks on the first part of this psalm then do check it out, but if not here is the verse I have been looking at this week:

"Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him" Psalm 127:3

Now lets get this out of the way - children can be down right tiring and pains in the bottom sometimes.  There done!  I said what most of us are thinking!  But most parents would agree that the hard and challenging times are worth it for the joy that children bring.  In seeing your little ones grow and learn.  Nowadays, having children is a choice for most us - we can afford contraception and decide when we want to have children and how many.  There are even many options for those who struggle to conceive - IVF has made huge leaps forward to allow previously "barren" women to be able to have their own children.  Science really is amazing! (If you are going through your own troubles with conceiving a child then I really am praying for a miracle for you). So children are more an option, a choice and a decision than a blessing.  

But in bible times, it wasn't like this at all.

Children were a huge blessing.  Children meant that you had someone to pass on your business, your wealth, the protection of your family to in a world where you didn't know how long you might live.  Children (and especially sons) meant that you had security for the future.  This is what the word "heritage" implies.   I think we have lost the value of this word, as it is now just connected with really old dusty castles (English Heritage members may not like me saying that!) or with trying to make old things sound cool (we have a "heritage" logo at work, which is just basically our old logo that we don't like or use anymore but don't want to get rid of all together!).  Heritage actually refers to inheritance, it refers to kinship and it means that there is someone to pass all your goods, qualities and possessions to when we die.  

David, the psalmist, knew the pain of losing children (his first child born to Bathsheba died in early life) but also knew how important and blessed he was to have other children to be able to carry on his royal line.  He also understood his adoption as a child of God. You see, we are God's heritage - we have been adopted into his family and as sons and daughters of the living God we will be in line to get his goods and qualities.  Have we forgotten how amazing that is? 

So I want to challenge us all to think of our children in a different way this week - to not just think of them as something we decided to have because we wanted a cute baby or a "mini me", but to really see the value in them, the value that God sees in them and to cherish and nurture their potential.  Lets make sure that they see as well that we are God's heritage, that they too will inherit the Kingdom of God and that they understand how important that relationship with God is to us, so that they can carry that on into their own future.

NEXT WEEK:

Just for something different I have chosen this verse for next week!

"Cling to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked." 1 Timothy 1:19

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