God gifts us with children, but do we treat these gifts from God with love or malice?
I shared with the Ombudsman at my internship recently, “Bad parents don’t deserve to have children.” She paused. She took a deep breath. Then, she preached the truth.
You’re right. But, in the Bible, God said that children are His gift to the world. Some people treat their gifts nicely while others disrespect and mistreat theirs.
I’ve read that Bible verse countless times, but it never registered to me that the Bible used the word, “gift,” to describe children. It then made me rethink how I treat gifts people give me. It made me also reflect on how others treat the gifts I give them.
- Genuinely appreciates receiving the gift
- Maintains the health of the gift to prevent deterioration
- Remember to use the gift as intended regularly
- Gets emotional if the gift gets lost or misplaced
- Neglects the gift
- Lack gratitude for when receiving the gift
- Doesn’t have any care if the gift goes missing
- Mistreats and misuses gift’s intended purpose
I wrote how I treat the tangible presents my friends and family gift me in the left column, while the left column represents how I used to treat my gifts when I was an immature child. Over the years, I learned to appreciate and cherish each present anyone took the time out of their day to give me because that person is giving a little bit of their soul along with the present. This is probably the reason why people get deeply hurt when their present exchange is rejected. This is also another reason why the giving friend gets hurt when their friend mistreats the present or lacks care for it.
I remember one year for Christmas when I was a little girl, I was so excited to open my presents that I would throw the previous one my parents wrapped so lovingly for me on the floor…hard. My mother pulled me aside and said:
That’s rude and mean to throw your present on the floor because it shows that you don’t care.
my gift. my child.
If we don’t throw presents on the floor as our mothers should have taught us, would we throw our children on the floor? That analogy may be extreme and may warrant CPS to be called, but I hope you understand the point I’m trying to make. If we are taught to be respectful to the gifts we received from our family and friends, shouldn’t we revere God’s gifts to us even more? God gave us life, which is the ultimate present to this world; it’s the present that has presence.
So when I look at the contrasting lists above, I replace “the gift” with instead, “my child.” Why would I abuse, neglect, mistreat, and disrespect any gift God bequeathed upon me? Why then would I hurt my child? Hurting a child, God’s gift to us, is a surefire way to anger God.
do we throw away ugly gifts?
I remember making my former sorority sister – I think she’s a bonafide sociopath – a handmade gift. I wool-felted a puppy wearing a pink scarf for her. Mind you, I was – and still am – quite the beginner when it comes to wool-felting. The gift looked very ugly, but it was made with love and time. It took me an hour to make that handmade gift for her. So, we the time came to do the Secret Santa Gift Exchange, I gave her the gift in hopes that she would smile and say thanks. She instead threw it to the side and said that it was a horrible gift and that she should’ve gotten something better like what the other sorority sisters got for each other.
So, if it hurts us when a friend throws away the ugly gift we gave them with love; imagine how much it hurts God when we throw away an “ugly” gift. When I say an “ugly gift,” I mean to allude to children who are abandoned or aborted for being born with difficult decisions. There is always a reason why God created every child to be the way they are. Some children are born to have more complicated personalities and behaviors than others; but, that doesn’t mean that we love them less or give up on them.
When I hear mothers giving up their children due to birth deficiencies, I immediately think of The Baby Box.
This man along with his wife accept and love all of the children equally with his “donated” in his box. What a beautiful soul.
Ultimately, we do not throw away gifts given to us by God because that would hurt his feelings. Also, this beautiful soul can lovingly accept each gift from God without any judgement or hate in his heart, then I think you and I can do it, too. It’s not easy, but we can and should because God loves us, His imperfect gifts; we owe it to Him to do the same for our children, the loveliest gifts from God.
