My Future Kin

I was chatting online with an old friend of mine today. We were catching up on what is going on in each our lives. He told me about his life, work, goals he has for himself and how happy he is with his girlfriend.

I love hearing about folk who are in fulfilling relationships.

So as he was telling me about how he feels he said something that was like wow…

“I can’t wait to have kids.”

Huh?

I sure can.

After recovering from the shock of how easily he rattled that off, and feeling old in the process, I was like really? Why is that?

He mentioned some really cool reasons, especially how certain myths that he had about parenthood were dispelled for him. But the thing that snagged my attention the most was this:

Having a child is like throwing your chips in. I’m not sure if that’s the right expression but it’s like you have a stake in the world, and you have an opportunity to really make it a better place by raising good kids (paraphrase).

And you know what… he’s right.

At times I have looked at the state of affairs in the world and thought… geez… do I want to bring a child into this?

But if you have a child, how much more invested are you in making the world a better place. It’s not just for you, but also for the ones you love most; the ones who will be here to carry on the good work when you’re gone.

Clearly this isn’t a reason to have a child, but it spoke to my heart.

At the end of Genesis Jacob/Israel gives the final blessings for his sons. He tells each one what will come of them and their descendents. It’s not good news for all of them… but I can’t imagine how proud he must have been to die an old man surrounded by so much family and love.

In them he saw the seeds of God fulfilling His promise.

I’ve recently started to feel that desire to have kids and this reading and conversation with my friend brought it back to the front of my mind.

All things in due time though… My season will come.

Today’s Reading: Genesis 49-50; Matthew 13: 31-58