Do I have your attention now? I’m not making this up. It’s actually what the Bible says:
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills the quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies at the gate.”
Psalm 127:3-5 ESV
Of all of the metaphors Solomon could have used to describe kids, he calls them “arrows in a warrior’s hand.”
Have you ever thought about that? Plenty of times after stepping on a Lego, I’ve thought they might be the death of me, that’s not what Solomon was trying to say.
By calling children arrows, he says that here our children are the ammunition that defends us and provide us confidence and joy.
That’s an interesting view, isn’t it?
Kids defend us from being shortsighted. I need to think about what sort of world my grandkids will inherit, not just what sort of world I live in. You might get frustrated when the littles make a racket at church, but when you consider the alternative—a church without those cries—you realize that the noise of life is better than the silence of death.
Kids defend us from being selfish. They need so much. They remind us that the world doesn’t revolve around us. Their dependence makes us think outside of ourselves.
Kids defend us from faithlessness. They have such a simple trust. If we learned to trust God like they trust us, what giants of faith we would become!
Solomon was right. No matter how many grey hairs they cause us, our children are one of God’s greatest gifts to us.