“And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.”
The Tree
Jacob speaks these words to his estranged brother Esau, in a moment of real vulnerability and reconciliation, and his description of his own children is worth noticing directly: graciously given, not earned, not simply produced, but received as grace, gift, from God’s own hand, even in the middle of a genuinely complicated, imperfect family history.
This is worth holding onto specifically because Jacob’s own family was not a simple, uncomplicated picture, marked by favoritism, deception, and real dysfunction across its own history. And yet, in this specific moment, Jacob’s own description of his children remains graciously given, gift language, even amid a family story that was genuinely far from perfect.
This offers a needed reframe for whatever imperfection marks your own family’s actual story. Complicated histories, real mistakes, ongoing struggles, none of these disqualify the children in your life from also being, genuinely, graciously given, gift from God’s hand, even in the middle of a story that is not simple or uncomplicated.
Whatever complicated history marks your own family, receive your children today the way Jacob received his, as graciously given, gift language spoken honestly in the middle of real imperfection, not requiring a flawless family story before the gift itself can be genuinely named and received.
Tend the Tree
- Name your own children today as graciously given, regardless of your family’s complicated history.
- Notice any belief that gift language requires a flawless family story first.
- Thank God specifically for this gift, in the middle of whatever imperfection remains real.
Prayer
Lord, these children are graciously given, even in the middle of our own imperfect story. Let me receive them as gift today, not waiting for a flawless history first. Amen.
Carry this today
Graciously given, even in the middle of an imperfect story.