“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.”
The Vine
This psalm names children as heritage and reward, gifts received rather than merely accomplishments produced. This reframing matters for the daily exhaustion parenting can bring, especially within a marriage already carrying its own ordinary weight. Children, this psalm insists, are not simply added labor. They are named, specifically, as gift.
Notice the image of arrows in the hand of a mighty man. Arrows are not merely possessed. They are aimed, sent purposefully toward a target beyond the one holding them. This suggests children are not simply extensions of a marriage’s private happiness, but purposeful, sent forward into a future the parents themselves will not fully see.
If your marriage includes children, or hopes to, this psalm offers a needed reframe against the exhaustion parenting genuinely produces. Heritage. Reward. Arrows purposefully aimed. Not merely tasks accomplished or burdens carried, but gift received and purpose extended, the harvest of a marriage reaching beyond the couple themselves into another generation.
If children are part of your marriage’s harvest, receive them today, specifically, as this psalm describes, heritage and reward, not merely obligation. If they are not, or not yet, this psalm still speaks to the fruitfulness a marriage can produce, in whatever form that fruitfulness actually takes for you.
Tend the Vine
- If you have children, name one way today you can receive them as heritage, not just labor.
- Thank God today for the specific fruit your marriage has produced, in whatever form.
- Consider what arrows your marriage might be aiming toward, purposefully, beyond yourselves.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for the heritage and reward you have given through this marriage, in whatever form it has taken. Let me receive it as gift, not merely labor. Amen.
Carry this today
Heritage and reward, not merely obligation.