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Aiemmat blogit

The Love of a Home

17.9.2016 6.33

Juttua muokattu:

8.3. 22:29
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Le­ar­ning that a new baby will be born in­to our home has brought a stran­ge com­bi­na­ti­on of emo­ti­ons: ex­ci­te­ment, ap­p­re­hen­si­on and more. But it most­ly brings won­der. When my wife was car­rying our first child, I wasn’t sure what to ex­pect, and my pri­ma­ry fee­lings were those born of nai­veté: cu­ri­o­si­ty, un­cer­tain­ty and an­ti­ci­pa­ti­on. When our daugh­ter ar­ri­ved, she brought an uns­pe­a­kab­le joy as well as a steep le­ar­ning cur­ve for us pa­rents. She al­so brought a new love—a love like none I’d ever felt be­fo­re.

I didn’t feel it right away, what with all the new­ness and up­he­a­val that a new­born brings. But like wa­ter so­a­king a dry spon­ge, this new love slow­ly per­me­a­ted me to the core, and over the fol­lo­wing months I swel­led with a deep, pri­me­val de­vo­ti­on for this child. I’d hold my daugh­ter and trace her face with my fin­ger­tip, exa­mi­ning her pe­ti­te fe­a­tu­res while trying to coax a flut­te­ring smile from her tiny lips. I’d gent­ly rub my nose ac­ross the soft­ness of her unb­le­mis­hed cheek, ab­sor­bing her new baby es­sen­ce. And I came to know what it felt like to be truly wil­ling to lay down my life for anot­her per­son.

Be­fo­re long, we found out that our se­cond child was on the way. But this time I doub­ted. I doub­ted that I could feel the same way to­ward anot­her child as I felt to­ward the first. My wife and I both come from lar­ge fa­mi­lies, and each of us has had ex­pe­rien­ce with yo­un­ger sib­lings and the joy they bring to the fa­mi­ly. In­tel­lec­tu­al­ly, I knew that pa­rents love all their child­ren and that, of cour­se, I would love the new baby so­me­how. But I qu­es­ti­o­ned whet­her I would truly feel the same deg­ree of at­tach­ment that I felt for my first child. So I doub­ted.

But it was a need­less doubt. If anyt­hing, the love for the first child on­ly made the love for the se­cond grow fas­ter. The soil had al­re­a­dy been til­led. The new seed­ling im­me­di­a­te­ly took root, quick­ly blos­so­med and took its place as an equ­al next to the first.

In the ye­ars sin­ce, five more child­ren have been gi­ven in­to our fa­mi­ly. We have ex­pe­rien­ced how love grows ex­po­nen­ti­al­ly as each mem­ber forms their own bond with the baby. The net­work of re­la­ti­ons­hips bal­loons as each per­son re­lis­hes the new­born’s in­no­cent af­fec­ti­on. New birth brings new won­der, and it re­kind­les our ap­p­re­ci­a­ti­on for God’s mi­rac­le of cre­a­ti­on and how He strengt­hens fa­mi­li­al love.

But I have al­so seen how not eve­ry­o­ne thinks this way. I used to work with a man who had one child, and I on­ce he­ard him tal­king about how he would ne­ver want anot­her. He was a fun-lo­ving and ca­ring man, but when dis­cus­sing fa­mi­ly size, he went so far as to say, “If you ever hear about me ha­ving anot­her kid, I want you to take me out in­to the par­king lot and shoot me in the head.” I was ta­ken aback, and couldn’t think of a way to res­pond. But my ini­ti­al shock was soon rep­la­ced with pity for his blind­ness. He couldn’t see the be­au­ty and strength that spring from a gro­wing web of fa­mi­li­al re­la­ti­ons­hips.

Many be­lie­vers have big fa­mi­lies; ho­we­ver, some Chris­ti­an fa­mi­lies are com­pa­ra­ti­ve­ly small. But even the be­lie­vers who have not been bles­sed with child­ren, or who have few, can ap­p­re­ci­a­te the be­ne­fits and bles­sings they bring. For me, my co­wor­ker’s com­ment high­lights how rare and pre­ci­ous the love in a be­lie­ving home is. Our child­ren ser­ve as re­min­ders of how Je­sus taught that the king­dom of he­a­ven is a king­dom of child­ren.

Life is of­ten far from per­fect, even in a Chris­ti­an home. But be­cau­se of God’s grace and the love He ins­pi­res, and des­pi­te our in­na­te cor­rup­ti­on, our fa­mi­ly has been ab­le to know a se­cu­ri­ty and joy that are bey­ond comp­re­hen­si­on. And if God bles­ses us with ad­di­ti­o­nal yo­ung ones, I pray that He will con­ti­nue to send the same love and care that He has pro­vi­ded thus far.

AaronWuollet
Much of my time is spent being an insurance agent. However, in addition to my earning a living, I am active in a few community groups, as well as working in the local congregation on various committees, as a song leader, and as a teacher of Sunday school and Bible Class. I also serve the North American central organization, LLC. Life is busy. But busyness is something to be thankful for because these activities reveal God’s blessing and care.
10.12.2024

Voimistakaa uupuneet kädet, vahvistakaa horjuvat polvet, sanokaa niille, jotka sydämessään hätäilevät: ”Olkaa lujat, älkää pelätkö. Tässä on teidän Jumalanne!” Jes. 35:3–4

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