As we come to Children’s Day 2021, it certainly seems as if the ongoing pandemic has cast its shadow over every significant celebration this year. And it has been hard, very hard, to put on a smile over gritted teeth.

Thankfully, the Bible can help, particularly as we approach Children’s Day in the time of coronavirus.

The Bible always portrays children as a sign of God’s favour, God’s pleasure and His affection.

In the Old Testament, barrenness is often thought of as a “curse” but fruitfulness is blessing. Happiness is a home full of the sounds of children’s chatter and laughter.

One of the most beloved passages about children in the Bible describes them as an inheritance – a gift bestowed on us, not by our own merit, but by the generosity and graciousness of someone else:

“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 his quiver with them!” (Psalms 127:3-5a)

It has a future perspective – an expectation of better and brighter times, a sense of treasure and worth that is yet to come, a hopefulness.

Our children are an inheritance from God to us.   

Our future

In our children is our future.

At a time when the here-and-now is bleak and filled with gloom and grief, when this seemingly never-ending present of vigilance and heightened alertness is distressing and wearying our souls, our children are a glimpse of our future.

Their energy is boundless, their sense of wide-eyed wonder and discovery is infectious, their dreams are big and unfettered, tempered only by their imagination, which is even bigger. Their spirit uplifts our spirits.

We need to constantly remind ourselves to nurture and invest in the right things in our children so that they will reap good dividends in the future.

An unhurried appreciation of the world, nature and creation, valuing relationships – people over process, process over products. Thankfulness for every good gift, compassion for others, empathy for those in need, love for God (Proverbs 22:6).

Set them on the right path and they will be unstoppable!

Our treasure

Our children are a treasure of great worth, whose value grows with time.

In time, their light will shine for all the world to see. They will achieve far more, reach much further, accomplish much greater deeds than we can ever do or imagine in our lifetimes. And they will be reaching long after we’re gone from this earth.

In our children is the potentiality for every virtue: Truth. Justice. Mercy. Healing. Peace.

Through them, we can reach the whole world with the Gospel of Christ.

Our task is to keep safe this precious prize that we have been entrusted with – to protect them from harm with all our strength, to shield them from the polluting and corrupting influences of a world that cannot see and does not know the love of God, to safeguard them from the pernicious corrosion and decay of all things good, wholesome and worthy, and to cover them with fervent prayer.  

Our privilege

For those of us who are parents, grandparents, teachers, caregivers, siblings – even just good friends and neighbours or occasional babysitters (it takes a village): Remember that it is not a chore but our privilege and blessing to love and care for the young ones (Matthew 18:5).

To walk with them and watch them grow. To make memories with them that they will carry with them into their lives.

They are our hope and our stay, at a time when this commodity is in frighteningly short supply.

Cherish them. Enjoy them. Enfold them in God’s love in good words and happy meals, in simple stuff and funny stories, in warm hugs and kind gestures.

Why not start this Children’s Day?

God bless our children this Children’s Day!

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