Shall Greatly Rejoice

The Tree

This proverb describes genuine, specific joy, greatly rejoice, glad, shall rejoice, repeated with real emphasis, tied directly to a child’s character, righteousness and wisdom specifically named as what produces this particular depth of parental joy, distinct from whatever other joys parenting might also include.

This is worth naming directly on days when parenting feels heavier than joyful, when the daily work of correction, teaching, and patient formation obscures the genuine joy this proverb insists is available, specifically, when a child actually grows in righteousness and wisdom, the harvest this whole book has been describing across its final movement.

This does not mean joy is absent during the harder, earlier seasons of planting and correction this book’s first two movements described. But it does name something specific worth actively noticing and celebrating when you actually see it, real evidence of righteousness or wisdom taking root, worth the greatly rejoice this proverb describes, not merely quiet relief.

Notice today, specifically, any evidence of righteousness or wisdom actually growing in your child, and let yourself genuinely, greatly rejoice over it, the way this proverb describes, not merely noting it in passing but actually receiving the specific joy this particular harvest is meant to produce.