Blessing Number Two

One of the dictionaries in our home has a definition for the word “blessing” which I particularly like. In the second sense of the word, it reads: “A means of happiness or welfare; a beneficent gift.” This meaning of the word definitely describes what our children are to us.

We have two chosen daughters. That’s another way of saying that they came to us via adoption. They were “born in our hearts” rather than by physical birth. And to put it in a way that I read on another blog which I frequent, we are linked to them “by law and by love.” I can truly say with gratefulness that they have each been a means of happiness and welfare for both my husband and me. They have brought us much joy and have increased our sense of well-being, especially as our feet have landed on that rich golden soil of our senior years. And one of them is still at home and a teenager!

And I can add that the “beneficent gift” abounded even more two years ago when our older daughter married a young man who has so far proven to be a loving and devoted husband, seeking to lead his family in a way that honors God. So our two children have grown to three!

Where there is beneficence there is a benefactor. Our children are a good gift that we enjoy from the almighty Benefactor, the giver of all that is right and good in this sin corrupted world. It’s not that we deserve it any more than anyone else. But He gave it to us anyway.

Thank you Lord, for my children.

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who, from our mothers’ arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
~ Martin Rinkart, 1636