The Joy of Children

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The Joy of Children

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What brings you joy and lasting satisfaction?

Recently more than 30 members of my extended family gathered together from all over the United States for the American Thanksgiving holiday. The striking fact of this particular family assembly? About half of the group represented children under age 9, including two sets of twins.

What was most memorable and beautiful to me? Simply watching the children and seeing how they enthusiastically interacted with each other and with the adults. Filled with seemingly boundless energy, they played and talked with each other for the full two and a half days. One of my nephew's twin daughters (age 9) even interviewed me for a school project. I took great joy in her questions. Perhaps you have had a similar happy experience.

As a father and now a grandfather, I humbly marvel at the miracle of how we can produce precious offspring whom we love and cherish. The loving foundation and relationships present in a family are not something that just mindlessly evolved or "happened" as a result of statistical replication. It is a special and prized state planned by an Intelligent and Loving Being. This Thanksgiving holiday it was a simple yet profound pleasure to be with other related families who truly loved and cared for their children. What topped the experience off was seeing the children innocently reflect that love back to their parents.

Allow me to share a few thoughts with you concerning this.

Children are small human beings. They are just a few years away from being independent entities who will soon begin to make life-long choices that will affect what they will do and who they will live with for the rest of their lives. As small children, they are impressionable and moldable not only by their parents, but by everyone and everything that they come in contact with: school, church, friends, relatives, TV, Internet. They model their behavior on what and who they observe and experience. If they are fortunate enough to grow up with loving parents (or caregivers), their chances for success and for contributing to strong communities are high.

But I shudder when I think about vulnerable children around the world who are neglected and abused. Those abused children then too-often perpetuate their abuse, because that is how they have been molded. Along these lines I have seen many adults struggle to overcome what they experienced as children. Thankfully, our loving God does provide the power and direction for those of us with less-than-happy childhoods to reshape our lives. How much better when parents can first be aligned with God as they rear their children in an environment fueled by biblically defined love! To be sure, a strong society collectively emerges when parents apply spiritual values that ultimately come from the God who first designed and created the family state.

We in the United Church of God highly value a happy marriage blessed with children who grow up in a loving and respectful home environment. Unfortunately, that blessed state represents only a dream for many men and women. Further, that biblical state is increasingly but a dream that is losing ground in a progressively secular society that no longer values what really brings fulfilling happiness.

What does a happy family look like?

Allow this biblical imagery to fill your mind:

"Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table" (Psalm 128:3).

The Bible goes on to define the experience and presence of children in a family. We read in Psalm 127:3-5:

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them."

Marriage and Family: The Missing DimensionThe Bible provides simple but profound advice on how to lay the foundation for a happy family, first built on a lasting marriage.

To take advantage of what God says about families and marriage, I'd like to offer you our popular study aid Marriage and Family: The Missing Dimension. This 75-page biblical aid explains the core values that help make dreams of a happy marriage and children come true. You can order it online or download immediately here.

In conclusion, I invite you to consider how God Himself uses the model of parent to child when describing His relationship to us. That includes all the love, nurture, care, protection, and education that we want for our physical children. Understanding and applying this critical biblical principle brings many lasting rewards, both in this life and in the eternal Kingdom of God that is to come.

P.S. Do you have your own joyous memory as a parent (or as a child with a loving parent)? Please feel free to share it by writing to me at victor_kubik@ucg.org.

 

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