I have seven children, all under the age of 11. At home, I feel indescribably happy and blessed, and yet, well, normal. When I go out in public, I am suddenly reminded of just how abnormal I am in this day and age. People look at me like I have seven heads rather than seven children. Yes, some people are nice and some people are just amazed. But many, I will dare to say most, people make it very clear: children are NOT valued in our culture. On the contrary, they are seen as burdens and bothers.
Recently as my little parade was going up and down the aisles of the grocery store, I was taking in each face around me as we went past. I was wondering what their faces would look like if instead of children, I was surrounded by things of great value: nice clothes, an expensive handbag, precious jewelry, the keys to a luxury sports car in the parking lot to drive me home to my fabulous well-staffed mansion? What if even they themselves were stacks of money equalling to millions of dollars? Would they look down on me then? Would they feel sorry for me or think me irresponsible or crazy?
The problem here is that society has everything backward. They think children are something we need wealth to afford. Children drain the wealth that we have. Children are of so little value that thousands are killed every DAY. The view that we are blessed if we can afford children is completely opposite of the biblical view that children ARE blessing. Children don't drain our wealth, children ARE our wealth! Don't believe me? Read the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, offspring was the highest form of blessing God bestowed on the nations He blessed. They were greatly desired and valued because they were the future. The people had a generational, long-term view of offspring that we rarely think about these days. All we think of now is ourselves and the here-and-now.
What if my children were worth a million dollars? How would people look at me then? Well, guess what. They ARE worth FAR more than a million dollars. They are worth more than any price tag you could put on them. They are priceless. They are people, precious eternal souls, the only thing in the world that matters. They are future adults, spouses, parents, grandparents. They are brothers, sisters, friends. How can any material thing be worth more than that?
I remember once I heard Jim Bob Duggar say each of his children were worth more than a trillion dollars and he felt like the richest man in the world.
I couldn't agree more.
