back to school prayers for parents | day five | Psalm 127.3-5

Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift?

the fruit of the womb his generous legacy?

Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows

are the children of a vigorous youth.

Oh, how blessed are you parents,

with your quivers full of children!

Your enemies don’t stand a chance against you;

you’ll sweep them right off your doorstep.^[1]

One of my best friends told me last week that she thinks my love language is gifts.  No way, José.  (I mean, isn’t that the most selfish and greedy and terrible love language of ALL?)  I say it’s words.  I love words.   Right?

But as I look up from my computer screen today to the rest of my desk (minus the mess), here’s what I see:  an old typewriter Dan gave me for Mother’s Day this year (sweetest gift EVER)… a stack of books I L-O-V-E love, given from him to me on various sundry occasions [if books were a love language, there’d be no debate]… a photo of little nineteen- and twenty- year-old us, under the sprinkling rain with the smoke rising from Hot Springs’ famous hot spring below, with a brand new shiny-sparkly-diamond-solitaire-engagement-ring on my hand and tears all up in my eyes… a canvas of the painting he had commissioned for me last Christmas… and a dainty, fragile, ivory and gold china coffee cup, a gift from our first bridal shower, which stays on my desk to remind me that this marriage is a priceless, precious gift from God that I’ve got to treat with the utmost care lest it chip, shatter, or break, each day.

Uh, yeah.  I think she knows me.

So it means a lot to me that God says, “You know what kids are?  They are not a project.  They are not a burden.  They are not a financial responsibility.  They are not mess-makers, talk-backers, picky-eaters, stinky-roomers.  They. Are. A. Gift.  From Me.  To you.”

Mr. Rogers taught me a lot.  [Random, I know.  Lol.  But truer than you know.]  One thing he taught was this:  When someone gives you a gift, your gift back to him or her is… “Thank you.” 

Do you know the feeling when someone says, “Thank you” and reeeaaaallllly means it?  Don’t rush past those moments.  Don’t mock humility and deny the recipient of your gift the honor of giving the gift of “thank you” back to you.  Receive it joyfully.  I think God does.

So today, for my last first-week-back-to-school prayer, I’m gonna pray what I should’ve started with:  A simple, “Thank you.”

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank you for __________________.   She is a priceless, precious gift… the best gift ever!  I can’t believe You thought to give her to me.  I can’t believe You love me so much, that You would do this for me.  You know me so well… You love me so well… She is absolutely stunning.  I love the way she _______________________________________.  Thank You for making her so ­­­­__________________, and __________________, and __________________, and __________________.  Thank you for thinking of me when You made her so ­__________________ and __________________.  I want to take the utmost care of her, Lord.  Help me to do so.  Thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, thank You, for the gift of __________________.  I love her.  And I love You.

It may take some work to fill in the blanks.  I believe with all my heart that’s the work we’re called to as parents, every single one of us.  How can we pour courage and affirmation into them every day if we haven’t first articulated this most simple response to God? …the One who made them with His own hands, wrapped them up and sent them with one address on the tag:  Us. 

Being the gift-receiver that I am, three things I know about gifts:  They’re to be enjoyed; they’re to be used; and they’re to be taken care of.

Lord, help me today to enjoy _____________.   Gifts are to be enjoyed.  Forgive me for forgetting.

Lord, help me today to prepare _____________to do what You created her to do.  Help me see the distinct ways You’ve made her special, to applaud and pour into those uniquenesses, and to direct her toward the mark of Your glory and the service of her generation.

Lord, help me today to care for _____________ the way You would care for her.  Body, soul, heart, emotions, hormones [Can you tell I have girls??], mind, ALL of her, Lord.  Help me to care for her today, keeping in mind that as an arrow in my quiver she is both a powerhouse for Your kingdom AND just a hollow reed of wood.  Fragile.  Prone to splintering, even shattering.  Organic.  Carrying the weight and the force of a battlefield.  Victorious. 

Amen.    

"Observe here, Children of the youth are arrows in the hand, which, with prudence, may be directed aright to the mark, God’s glory and the service of their generation; but afterwards, when they have gone abroad into the world, they are arrows out of the hand; it is too late to bend them then."^[2]

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^[1] Peterson, E. H. (2005). The Message: The Bible in contemporary language (Ps 127:3–5). Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

^[2] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: Complete and unabridged in one volume (Ps 127:1–5). Peabody: Hendrickson.