Thanking God For Children

I Samuel 1:9-28
By Harold Dinsmore, M.Div.
© 2008 Harold Dinsmore 

               I read this story that I would like to share with you this morning.  “David, my next door neighbor, has two young kids ages five and seven.  One day he was teaching his seven-year old son, Kelly how to push the gas-powered mower around the yard.  As he was teaching him how to turn the mower around at the end of the lawn, his wife, Jan, called to him to ask a question.  As David turned to answer her question, Kelly pushed the lawn mower right though the flower bed at the edge of the lawn, leaving a two foot wide path leveled to the ground.

               When David turned back around and saw what had happened, he began to lose control.  David put a lot of time and effort into make those flower beds the envy of the neighborhood.  As he began to raise his voice to his son, Jan walked quickly over to him, put her hand on his shoulder and said, “David, please remember…we’re raising children, not flowers.”

               Jan reminded in this story reminded me how important it is as a parent to remember our priorities.  Kids and their self-esteem are more important than any physical object they might break or destroy.  The window pane shattered by a baseball, a lamp knocked over by a careless child, or a plate dropped in the kitchen are already broken.  The flowers are already dead.  I must remember not to add to the destruction by breaking a child’s spirit and deadening their sense of liveliness.