Psalm 127:3 The High Cost of Children 

            In Psalm 127:3, God said, children are a gift/an heritage from the Lord. Since children are a gift, why do they cost so much?

Have you ever seen the breakdown of the cost of raising one child?  One survey calculated the cost for an average middle-class American family of raising one child from birth to 18 at $160,140 (that’s before the wedding or college tuition).  Even so, if you break it down, that’s only $24.24 a day or just over one dollar an hour.  So, what do you get for your buck? Here’s one man’s idea.  For $160,140, you get,

• Naming rights.  First, middle, and last.

• Glimpses of God every day.

• Giggles under the covers, more love than your heart can hold, butterfly kisses, and Velcro hugs. You get,

• Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies. You get,

• A hand to hold (usually covered with jam), a partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites, building sand castles, and playing outside in the rain. You get,

• To finger paint, carve pumpkins, play hide and seek, catch lightning bugs, and restore your belief in Santa Claus for a few extra years. You get,

• Someone with whom you can laugh yourself silly no matter how the boss treated you that day or how your stocks performed.

For $160,140,

• You have an excuse to never grow up. You can read the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, watch Saturday morning cartoons, and rent Disney videos without anyone asking why.

• You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray-painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother’s Day, and cards with backwards letters for Father’s Day.

• You get to be a hero for merely retrieving a Frisbee from off the roof, healing a boo-boo, patching a broken heart, or for coaxing a wad of gum out of your little girl’s bangs just in time for Billy to stop by.

What do you get for $160,140?

• You get a front row seat to history to witness the first step, first date, and first time behind the wheel.

• You get an education in psychology, theology, criminal justice, communications, relationships, and nursing that no college or university can match.

• Since, in the eyes of your child, you rank right up there with God, you can love without limits and without cost.

I guess, when you come to think of it, children are a gift from the Lord.  Since we get so much more from them than we give to them, maybe we should invest more time in thanking God for giving children parents.