Psalm 127
A Pilgrim Song of Solomon
1 -2 IfGod doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks.
IfGod doesn't guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It's useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don't you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves?
3 -5 Don't you see that children areGod 's best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior's fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children!
Your enemies don't stand a chance against you;
you'll sweep them right off your doorstep.
Did you see the differences in the last pictures and the scripture? Do you see the beauty in the other three illustrations?
How do a lot of women look at mothering these days? Do they look at their children and think that they are "like a warrior's fistful of arrows", being so absolutely blessed to have children? Or do they look at their children like little (or big) inconveniences in their lives.
Something has got to give.
I know that my opinion is not a popular one in this day and age, and I am somehow supposed to think that working and mothering go together. Well, from what I can see is that: they don't.
Think of these scenarios: A woman has a full time job, so does her husband. The woman is home in the morning for a while, the man home only at night. The mother comes home at suppertime to "visit" with the children, but then leaves again for work because she is a newscaster, hmmmm....something has to give and it doesn't sound like the news channel is losing, it's the children and the husband.
Take another example: two full-time working parents, a child unexpectantly comes along, this child majorly cramps their financial lifestyle. The child goes into full-time daycare, is home with the parents for 2 hours at night, the parents can barely handle it because it so crowds their lifestyles. The child is a burden, yet this is the happiest child ever seen. No fussing, no whining.
A child is born, loving and wonderful, it happens to have leg problems. I overhear the mother saying, "Oh, I'm so glad that the therapist comes to the daycare that Jane goes to, then I don't have to miss work." What?
A child is born, the grandmother takes care of the children in the summer, the grandmother happens to have to miss a day or two of taking care of them and it throws the mother into a tizzy. It's inconveniencing her life, to have to find someone else to take care of her children, even though the grandmother's husband is recovering from surgery in some hospital an hour away.
When is it going to end? When will we realize that is in an HONOR to have children? It is far more precious than any amount of money to have children. Something has to give and it's the children that are giving and giving and giving.
I heard an illustration one time about how we tell our kids: "You just hold this large rock here and soon I will be back and we will be able to spend time together, as soon as I pay off this huge house mortgage." So, the child holds and holds and holds the rock, all the while being happy, but soon the childs arms get tired, and one day, the parent comes home and the child is gone; the rock has dropped. The child doesn't want anything to do with the parent, because, well, the parents kept telling the child to wait. The child couldn't wait any longer......
I completely understand that there are many mothers and fathers out there that want their kids to be able to be taken care of by the parents and that they are unable to. I understand that there are widows, and single moms that have been devastated by their husbands chasing some dream and leaving them in the dust. I understand these circumstances, but can't we see the damage and the cycle that we are creating in most other circumstances?
Where did trusting God and His provision go? Do not one of us trust Him? Someone needs to care for our children, and do you want it to be the woman down the street that has 10 other children that she is watching at the same time? How can that woman give the same love as the love of the mother and father? How can it be possible that this is good for us and for the children.
There are now 24 hour daycares, ack! 24 hour daycare...... what comfort can a child get when in the night she wakes up, having a nightmare and running into the arms of her..........assigned night-watchman(woman). My children, the first five years of their lives, desperately needed my help in the night, getting over leg pains, getting over nightmares, getting over being scared by a scary shadow. What are we doing to these children of ours?
I have been blessed, and I know it. I do not take my being at home for granted. I have been here for their sadnesses, their laughter, their hurts and their dreams. I have been blessed enough to be here for their growing. I have been here because the Lord has allowed it, and I have trusted Him enough to provide.
We are not rich in money. We live in a modest little house and have modest little things. We don't drive new cars. We don't have new clothes. But we are by far richer than most people in this town. In fact, I only know of one or two others that stay home with their children. My town is almost a population of 3,000. There are only a few that stay home. I think maybe three. I could be wrong.
What are we doing to our children? And why? Is it to get the "Pot o' Gold" at the end of our figurative rainbow? When all of these working parents are in their nursing homes and they don't know their little ones, do you think that those "Little ones" will want to come and visit them? Doubtful, they'll be too busy chasing their own dream.
They say that you reap what you sow. What in the world is America sewing? What good can come from most of the children being in daycare? What good is there? How can we expect to have a relationship with them, when all we do is work, and buy ourselves toys?
Is one hour a day, sitting and eating and reading enough to garner a healthy relationship for a child?
How can it be?
How can you not cringe, when you walk into a daycare and they have 10 highchairs lined up and the childcare provider is shoveling the food into the face and moving on down the line? What comfort and happiness is there? There is absolutely no relationship.
No wonder nobody cares about anyone else anymore~~we never cared for them in the past, what would be in it for them?
~B
How do a lot of women look at mothering these days? Do they look at their children and think that they are "like a warrior's fistful of arrows", being so absolutely blessed to have children? Or do they look at their children like little (or big) inconveniences in their lives.
Something has got to give.
I know that my opinion is not a popular one in this day and age, and I am somehow supposed to think that working and mothering go together. Well, from what I can see is that: they don't.
Think of these scenarios: A woman has a full time job, so does her husband. The woman is home in the morning for a while, the man home only at night. The mother comes home at suppertime to "visit" with the children, but then leaves again for work because she is a newscaster, hmmmm....something has to give and it doesn't sound like the news channel is losing, it's the children and the husband.
Take another example: two full-time working parents, a child unexpectantly comes along, this child majorly cramps their financial lifestyle. The child goes into full-time daycare, is home with the parents for 2 hours at night, the parents can barely handle it because it so crowds their lifestyles. The child is a burden, yet this is the happiest child ever seen. No fussing, no whining.
A child is born, loving and wonderful, it happens to have leg problems. I overhear the mother saying, "Oh, I'm so glad that the therapist comes to the daycare that Jane goes to, then I don't have to miss work." What?
A child is born, the grandmother takes care of the children in the summer, the grandmother happens to have to miss a day or two of taking care of them and it throws the mother into a tizzy. It's inconveniencing her life, to have to find someone else to take care of her children, even though the grandmother's husband is recovering from surgery in some hospital an hour away.
When is it going to end? When will we realize that is in an HONOR to have children? It is far more precious than any amount of money to have children. Something has to give and it's the children that are giving and giving and giving.
I heard an illustration one time about how we tell our kids: "You just hold this large rock here and soon I will be back and we will be able to spend time together, as soon as I pay off this huge house mortgage." So, the child holds and holds and holds the rock, all the while being happy, but soon the childs arms get tired, and one day, the parent comes home and the child is gone; the rock has dropped. The child doesn't want anything to do with the parent, because, well, the parents kept telling the child to wait. The child couldn't wait any longer......
I completely understand that there are many mothers and fathers out there that want their kids to be able to be taken care of by the parents and that they are unable to. I understand that there are widows, and single moms that have been devastated by their husbands chasing some dream and leaving them in the dust. I understand these circumstances, but can't we see the damage and the cycle that we are creating in most other circumstances?
Where did trusting God and His provision go? Do not one of us trust Him? Someone needs to care for our children, and do you want it to be the woman down the street that has 10 other children that she is watching at the same time? How can that woman give the same love as the love of the mother and father? How can it be possible that this is good for us and for the children.
There are now 24 hour daycares, ack! 24 hour daycare...... what comfort can a child get when in the night she wakes up, having a nightmare and running into the arms of her..........assigned night-watchman(woman). My children, the first five years of their lives, desperately needed my help in the night, getting over leg pains, getting over nightmares, getting over being scared by a scary shadow. What are we doing to these children of ours?
I have been blessed, and I know it. I do not take my being at home for granted. I have been here for their sadnesses, their laughter, their hurts and their dreams. I have been blessed enough to be here for their growing. I have been here because the Lord has allowed it, and I have trusted Him enough to provide.
We are not rich in money. We live in a modest little house and have modest little things. We don't drive new cars. We don't have new clothes. But we are by far richer than most people in this town. In fact, I only know of one or two others that stay home with their children. My town is almost a population of 3,000. There are only a few that stay home. I think maybe three. I could be wrong.
What are we doing to our children? And why? Is it to get the "Pot o' Gold" at the end of our figurative rainbow? When all of these working parents are in their nursing homes and they don't know their little ones, do you think that those "Little ones" will want to come and visit them? Doubtful, they'll be too busy chasing their own dream.
They say that you reap what you sow. What in the world is America sewing? What good can come from most of the children being in daycare? What good is there? How can we expect to have a relationship with them, when all we do is work, and buy ourselves toys?
Is one hour a day, sitting and eating and reading enough to garner a healthy relationship for a child?
How can it be?
How can you not cringe, when you walk into a daycare and they have 10 highchairs lined up and the childcare provider is shoveling the food into the face and moving on down the line? What comfort and happiness is there? There is absolutely no relationship.
No wonder nobody cares about anyone else anymore~~we never cared for them in the past, what would be in it for them?
~B
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