Long ago when a child lay in a manger, a special star appeared. It didn't just show up that evening. It had to have been placed in its orbit centuries before in a trajectory that would make it appear at that special moment of time to announce the birth of a special child. Just as there is divine design in the universe, so each of us has been placed in our own orbits in this life to love, to serve, to help light the world.
You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today's world is passing you by, because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms.
If we spent as much time lifting our children as we do criticizing them, how effectively we could help them to see themselves in a more positive light!
Those who do too much for their children will soon find they can do nothing with their children. So many children have been so much done for they are almost done in.
God is very serious about joy in the lives of His children.
Some mothers in today's world feel "cumbered" by home duties and are thus attracted by other more "romantic" challenges. Such women could make the same error of perspective that Martha made. The woman, for instance, who deserts the cradle in order to help defend civilization against the barbarians may well later meet, among the barbarians, her own neglected child.
A father who finds it difficult to express his love vocally for his children may need, at first, to be humbly obedient in holding family home evenings in order to help him to discover, or to increase, his appreciation for his children. Next can come to him the courage to say I love you to each one.
