To whom belongs that child whom my wife carries in her womb? If we say that to us, we would be partially right, but not completely. The Creator of this little person is the Lord God, Who in all His fullness applies all His creative power, wisdom and love in order to hand over at the right time into our hands a masterpiece of His creativity and entrust to our care the most unique personality in the entire Universe, which from the moment of birth possesses the most mighty forces: will, mind, instinct and passion, but does not yet have wisdom and life experience. All this enormous potential is laid into every human being, and it will form the child's character under the influence of the wise or unwise diligence of his parents or mentors.
Any smallest child is a person who belongs not only to his parents, but also to God, as well as to that state in which he was born, and on whose territory he lives. God's and state laws protect human life and health from the moment of his conception and appearance in the world, and we cannot engage in arbitrariness with impunity and cause harm to our children. But with all this, the child's parents have the most rights to him and receive unlimited power from God to form a worthy person, citizen and personality. And this person at a certain moment of his life will be able to begin an independent and autonomous life, create his family and bear his children. And this cycle of life is laid by God into humanity.
It's worth noting that, besides God, parents and the state, there are also mighty forces of evil, which also have plans for our children and tirelessly work to steal, kill and destroy them. And there are very many of them, and they exert evil influence both on the child's developing mind and on the parents' consciousness.
And in this confrontation wise parents need cooperation with Heavenly Divine Forces, of Whom there are much more, and They are much stronger. Relying only on myself and my human wisdom and intuition in the matter of raising children, I risk becoming easy prey for the evil one, who will be able to use my tenderness and blind love so that I act at random and instead of benefit cause harm to the soul, thinking that sincere love will be enough to form righteous character in the rising generation. Love without knowledge and wisdom from above will be like a poor person who won a few million in the lottery but has no sense of how to use this money. One could safely assume that this "lucky one" will soon squander his "easy money" and become even poorer, but will have experience demonstrating his foolishness to his neighbors.
We, parents, have been shown trust from above, and the Lord, seeing our marital love for each other, has given us the fruit of this love, which will become our teacher, and thanks to which we will gain such experience that no one can give us.
In the matter of upbringing there is one peculiarity. We will not be able to properly raise a child without cooperation with God, and God will not raise this little person without cooperation with us. In raising a worthy person, cooperation of human and Divine forces is necessary. It's not difficult for God to endow parents with all the necessary qualities that will contribute to more successful formation of a worthy personality. The goal of upbringing should be not only teaching the child practical skills, but also instilling the spiritual component, so that he understands whose he is, why he lives, and what awaits him in the future. He must know the meaning of his life. And the Lord cooperates with us, granting us His wisdom, patience, intuition and love on a constant basis. Teaching us to raise children, He also instructs us to trust Him, be firm in truth, constant in principles, faithful in obedience to His will, observant, sensitive, sociable, very patient, condescending, kind, polite, capable of learning, like-minded and unanimous while being spouses who love each other. All these and other qualities of parental wisdom we did not inherit from birth and do not carry within ourselves. They will not bring great benefit if they are applied spontaneously or intuitively. If I have some principles and requirements today, and tomorrow I will have others, and then I'll think up something else, this is not wisdom from above. God gives and lays in us a firm foundation of His principles and shows the advantage of constancy in His requirements.
The Lord loves all His creation and cares for every living organism. He is the Giver of life and knows how to sustain it. Any person being born into our world is God's creation, but not yet a child of God. God has no grandchildren. He desires that every person be born from above for God's Kingdom, and this can happen only at a conscious age, when the child grows up and becomes independent. Until this moment children are credited with the righteousness of their parents, who put good seeds in the child's heart for a good harvest. The purpose of proper upbringing consists in laying in the foundation of the child's thinking the principles of God's law and understanding of dependence on Christ. Simply teaching good is good, but little. God needs not creation, but children born from above, who will become heirs of His Kingdom.
The Lord is more interested than we are in the salvation and acquisition of new souls. But having to deal with human choice and will, He respects what we choose, and doesn't interfere with us in this choice.
Any father and mother can boldly count on God's help and cooperation with Heavenly Forces in the matter of raising children. God will give everything necessary in this question and will apply His hand where there is need and necessity.
Raising children is not only influence on the mind of the person entrusted to you, but also constant struggle with yourself and with your fleshly inclinations.
The moment will never come when we, having shown all wisdom, invested all strength and given all of ourselves to the matter of raising children, decide that this is enough, and stop at what has been achieved. The child will continue to require and expect our complete self-sacrifice. And where human resources are exhausted, God's channels are activated and accomplish what needs to be done. God has not entrusted us with something impossible that requires superhuman efforts, but gives exactly as much as is necessary for today, and does this so naturally that we sometimes don't notice His hand in the process of upbringing. He gives us each morning only one day, in which we will be able to receive exactly what will be useful to us today and what we will be able to pass on further.
When my wife and I are taught to love each other, then it will be very simple for us to pass this knowledge to our offspring and teach children to live with the same spirit. In union with God everything is much simpler and easier than we imagine. It's not children who raise us, but we them. They don't dictate to us what they need, but we form their way of thinking. And all this happens in a joyful spirit and in unity with God. And while we are pregnant, we still have time to prepare our backpacks for the journey into the child's world.
Questions for Reflection
Please read Matt.7:7-14; 28:18-20; Josh.1:9; Prov.14:29; 16:32; 20:11; 22:6; Eccl.7:8; John.17:21-22; Luke.1:14-17; Phil.2:13; 4:8-9; 1Pet.1:14-16; 1Cor.7:14 in light of this lesson. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind? What did you understand from this lesson? What is cooperation with God? Will God cooperate with those who ask Him for this? How to understand that God will help us in raising children who don't exist yet? Should one fear bearing children into this dangerous world? Is it difficult for God to help us in raising children in all difficult trials? Does it gladden you that we have Such a Wise and Strong Mentor in Heaven? What qualities of soul are very necessary for parents in raising children? What does love without wisdom and revelation from above represent? Can it bring harm to a child? Do you think God's participation plays any role in forming a person's personality? Why is it so important to cooperate with Heaven in the matter of upbringing? Why doesn't God raise children without human participation?