Good Morning Everyone!
We are reading Psalm 127 today. It starts out with a verse that is very familiar to me, as I have simply heard it quoted often here and there. It is a very good reminder not to run ahead of the Lord, so I recorded verse 1 in my notebook. But I also really really love verse 3, so I recorded that one as well:
"Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain." Psalm 127:1
"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Psalm 127:3
Aren't those both good? We can work very hard trying to do something--but the first step we need to do is to make sure that what we are attempting to do is what God is asking us to do, and not just our own idea of something great! We NEED His blessing on our work--is there really anything useful and worth while doing if it isn't something that is blessed by the Lord? I think not! So we need to first seek Him and His direction--and then after He points us in the way He wants us to go, we can with His help, work with all of our might!
And children--oh, how sad the plight of children is in our world today. In our country, all too often children are looked at as something in the way, a bother, and something that might keep a women from reaching her "full potential"! How terrible! How can anyone look at a career--any career--as better than that of raising a child for God's kingdom?! Yes--I had a career before I was married and had children, and yes--I loved that career. But I love even more what God has asked me to do now, at this point in my life, and that is staying home and raising our children for Him. Yes--I DO realize that not everyone has the privileges that I have in the opportunity to stay home. But I am talking here about our attitude towards our children, or our attitude towards the children we interact with in our lives--it might be the child at church who is making noise during the sermon. Do you turn around and glare at them? Or give them a happy smile? My study Bible had this note to go along with Psalm 127:3, and it is a good one for all of us whether you are a parent or not:
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Let parents search their own hearts, examine their habits and practices. Children are the heritage of the Lord, and we are answerable to Him for our management of His property.
There are fathers and mothers who long to labor in some foreign mission field; there are may who are active in Christian work outside the home, while their own children are strangers to the Saviour and His love.
Christ's Object Lessons, by E. G. White, p. 195
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A good reminder, isn't it? The mission field we are called to is often simply the mission field which lies nearest--our own families. Not that God doesn't call some of us overseas--please don't misunderstand me. Only that we need to also view working for the children in our own lives as equally a mission field. They belong to Him who created them, and are loaned to us to raise for Him.
And so--today, I am going to pray for extra understanding and patience, and try and remember that I can always call for help from God when I don't know what to do as a parent. He will never refuse to answer my plea!
~Susan
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