"For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:" (1 Samuel 1:27)
I have seen it way too many times. The way the world looks at children. I've even heard of eye-rolling during worship when little toddlers make noises. Our society has gone so far as to throw babies into dumpsters and mothers think nothing of it. I have seen mothers whose children bring them flowers and the mothers throw them down on the ground without a thought and with an unkind word to their child. There are mothers that beat their children with hairbrushes and drown them in bathtubs. There's an attitude as if children don't matter and don't have rights. It is almost as if children don't have a soul even. We must keep this attitude from creeping into our own homes. God sees every life as special - each has a soul that He would love to live forever with Him.
“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) Paul is not simply making a suggestion, this is a command. We spend years – or at least 9 months – anticipating the arrival of a little blessing. But somewhere between the midnight feedings (sometimes 2 or 3 a night), crying for unknown reasons, diaper changes and extreme fatigue we forget the blessing that God has given us. In the verse I quoted above, Hannah says this as she is about to turn her weaned child over to Eli. She's keeping her promise to the Lord to give her son back to God. She cherished him, yet gave him up as she vowed. She didn't view her son as someone she was ready to pawn off to someone else. He was precious to her as we can see as she brought him a new coat each year.
Do we give good things to our child? Jesus said, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:11-13)
What better gift could you give your child than to pass down a genuine faith? Love God, show love to your neighbor and especially to your children. God does: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
Simply a Christian. "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1) "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." (1 Thessalonians 5:11)