Those who know me know how anxious I have been about the birth of my only sister’s first child.  Landon Paul was born on March 1^st weighing 8lbs 5oz.  He is precious.  You have seen as much of him as I have, for this picture is all I have.  We live hundreds of miles apart but my heart and prayers are with them all.   And I long for the day I can hold him.

At a prayer meeting this week some of the ladies were talking about how they only needed one or two children.  “That was plenty!”  they said.   I asked, “Ladies, if God’s blessings were a million dollars how many would you like to have?”  To which they all responded with, “As many as God would give us!”  Truth is, God has told us in His Word what He considers blessings.  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them Psalm 127:3-5a        

 Sure we’ll gladly take tangible blessings (money, clothing, riches, homes, etc.), all of which will soon be gone.  But we don’t want the eternal blessings – a godly heritage.  Eternal blessings are the only ones that will matter.   “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man…”  When Psalm 127 was written, arrows were hand crafted.  Life and death depended upon the careful molding and shaping of these valuable instruments.  They were then launched out of the hands of the warrior to fight the enemy.    That is why the rest of Psalms 127 says,  “they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” Psalm 127:5b. 

A sweet lady told me this week that she wouldn’t want to bring more children into this cruel world.  She was already concerned with what her children and grandchildren would have to face.  I’ve thought about that since then.  The reason the future looks so dim for my children is because God’s people, for several generations now, have refused to do the hard things necessary to bring up a lasting heritage of the Lord.  Consequently, we should not be surprised when the enemies overtake us.  The Muslims birthrate averages 8 children per woman.  The unwed birthrate is overwhelming.   The ungodly have plenty of children.  Where is the God-fearing Christians who take God’s Word as Truth?  Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them – they shall not be ashamed.

Here is my prayer, “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace: That our garners may be full… Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD” Psalm 144:12-15.