Finding Joy in Motherhood, Part 2, View Your Children the Way GOD Views Them

(If you're just jumping into this series, please consider starting HERE with Part 1 of Finding Joy in Motherhood.)

How can we find JOY in motherhood?

 1. View  your children the way God views them.

How does God view children?

Let’s turn to Psalm 127:3-5 to find out. God says children are an heritage, an inheritance, and a reward. If you found out you would be receiving a large monetary inheritance, would you answer people like this, “Well, it really wasn’t planned. I really didn’t want any more surprises like this. Yes, I certainly hope this is the LAST one!” How ridiculous would that sound? Yet how many times have you heard women answer this way over an “unplanned” pregnancy? You see, God sees the whole picture and HE says that children are your heritage, your legacy, your inheritance. Do you hear the positive sound to these words? God is saying that your children are not a bother, not a burden, not a trial to be endured----but a BLESSING!

We wouldn’t dream of criticizing a family who received a large monetary inheritance but think nothing of giving our opinion that a large family should “stop having kids!”. God is the creator of life and everything HE creates is GOOD!

 I Samuel 1: 5, speaking of Hannah and her husband Elkanah, says, “But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb”. I remember reading this verse for the first time during my period of infertility and I found such comfort in the words, “But the LORD had shut up her womb”. You see, dear sisters, if God SHUTS the wombs of women, that means He also OPENS them to create life. And if God is creating a new life through you, whether it’s your first or your 20th, whether it’s on your time-schedule or HIS, what a gift, what a blessing, what a HERITAGE!

Jesus, during His earthly ministry, was often approached by small children. I can so vividly picture one such event in my mind……Jesus had just came into Judaea after preaching and teaching in Galilee. The Bible tells us in Matthew 19 that “great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.” Can you imagine how tired Jesus might have been after literally spending all day teaching and healing the “multitudes”? The last of the multitude fades into the distance and the sneaky Pharisees snatch up their opportunity to plague Him with their “spiritual” doctrinal questions about divorce and such. At the end of the day, some parents tentatively bring their littlest ones to Jesus, asking for a blessing. The impatient disciples, who, by the way, didn’t turn the multitudes OR the Pharisees away from Jesus, REBUKE the parents. Can you imagine what they might have said? “Jesus is exhausted. He’s spent all day MINISTERING. He doesn’t have time or energy left for your little ones. Besides, they’re not that important in the Kingdom!”

But OH, then Jesus puts His hands up and says, “WAIT!” Matthew 19:18 tells us what Jesus said then, “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Our Lord and Saviour, the God of the universe, knelt down, picked up these precious children, and held them in His arms. He took time for them, even when He was exhausted. He told all those who were near that it wasn’t the adults in the multitude, it wasn’t the wanna-be spiritual Pharisees, NO, it was these precious little CHILDREN that made up the kingdom of heaven.

God created your children, God calls them a blessing, and He says they’re important! Sharing God’s view of your children is the first step to finding true joy in motherhood.