Be Thankful

Our children do more for us than we realize.

We are so busy doing things for our children that we risk never stopping to recognize what they are doing for us.

They increase our capacity for love. Many a man has had his heart melted down and then recast three sizes larger than before, all because he held his first child in his arms.

They teach us patience. If we have the wisdom to learn from them.

They give us new eyes for looking at the world, a world we forgot to stop and look at a long time ago. Everything is new to them. What has faded with familiarity, made like a shadow realm in our cynical, preoccupied minds, can be splashed with new colors as their wonder sloshes out of their pores. Through their eyes, our own eyes can be reborn.

They inject new youth into our veins and lubricate the joints with their endless enthusiasm. For older people, the presence of children can literally let them live longer and prevent depression.

Chesterton captures the bouncing abundance of children very well:

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.

But if we have the wisdom to learn, we can perhaps get a hint of that strength back, like a second wind in a long race. “I want to be like my kids when I grow up” is not a nonsensical thing to say. “Unless you change and become like little children…” Jesus says, and we should take those words seriously.

Through all of this, they increase our joy. And once they have children of their own, they will increase it even further.

Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

Proverbs 17:6

When was the last time you told them “thank you”? Not for doing something you asked them to do but for simply being your child.

Beyond that, tell them that you thank God for them every day because they are a gift. We don’t want them to think that we take them for granted.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.

Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!

Psalm 127:3-5