No More Babies

I came home the other day, and my wife was crying.  “What’s wrong?” I asked.  She said, “All of our grandchildren are grown up.  We don’t have little babies anymore.”  Well, that wasn’t anything to cry about.  Or at least I didn’t think so.  But my wife loves to cuddle the babies.  I like to play with the grandchildren when they get a little older.  None of that diaper-changing stuff for me (unless I have to).  Hey, Hannah in the Bible could have cried over her little baby growing up too.  She had been baren and made a deal with God: if God would open her womb and give her a boy-child, Hannah would loan him back to God forever.  God kept His part of the bargain, and Hannah kept her part.  And you would think that when she brought her little boy to the tabernacle to live with old Eli, she would have cried like my wife.  But Hannah didn’t.  I Samuel 2:1, “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation.”  Hannah didn’t rejoice because she had to leave her little boy at the tabernacle; she rejoiced that the dear Lord had given her a baby boy for a few years to enjoy.  And that’s exactly what I told my dear wife.  We have our children (and grandchildren) for only a few years.  Because, actually, they belong to the dear Lord.  So, train them to love their heavenly Father, and teach them to be warriors for God.  And then, send them off.  Oh, and you can cry on the inside, but be glad that they are growing up.