Children, God’s Reward for Us       Children truly are a beautiful gift from the Lord such as it says in the following Bible quote which was written by King David: “Truly, children are a gift from the Lord.  The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Psalm 127:3. Imagine a world with no beautiful, cute little babies!  Wouldn’t that be terrible?  Because children are the future generation of adults, they are important.  Children are important to the present as well.      Why are children gifts?  Isn’t it a gift to be able to help create a future great architect or musician?  Think of Elizabeth from the Bible.  How thrilled she must have been to have her baby!  Humans cannot create something from nothing, but we can help God create other humans.  In this way, we are images of God.  Another way we are images of God is because we can paint, we can invent, we can write, and we can compose music.  When you walk into a cathedral you think, “Wow!  God gave us intellect and will to imagine and build this cathedral.  How do you know what God has in store for any baby?  What if a baby were going to be the next Rossini?  Sadly, these days many men and women don’t want to help God in this mystery of creation.        How do children help their parents?  First of all, children help with chores around the house and by helping with younger siblings.  Having children makes parents less self-centered because they have more than themselves to take care of.  When parents know they have a family to support, they are more likely to stick with their jobs.  Grown- ups who have children are not as likely to do dangerous things such as riding motorcycles. Finally, children are needed for the future because they will take care of their elderly parents some day.      What does it mean to be created in the image of God?  It means that humans have intellect, will and eternal souls.  The fact that we are created in God’s image makes every person a gift to the world.  Each child is unique and different.  God created each child to be a light in this world of darkness.  Our ability to love, respect and help each other proceeds from God’s gift to us of intellect and will.  Every person has this ability to love, and so does every child which is one of the reasons why children should be considered gifts and not burdens.      Children are gifts from God because they are images of God and they continue the culture.  They are also gifts because of the love they bring to the world.  So babies should be protected, accepted and cared for by their parents and our laws.