It seems like the birthdays just keep coming faster and faster. This time, it was Kristin’s birthday, our oldest daughter. She turned 48 today and it seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. Janet and I were in our early twenties. Money was tight; but we had decided to have our kids early on so that we could have more of our lives to spend with our children.
Yes, I know that many people wait for a number of years so that they can travel and see the world but Janet and I thought it would be better for us to struggle earlier in our lives and then have all those years ahead of us to spend with our family. That has always been a priority for us.
In two months, Janet and I will celebrate, God willing, our 50th anniversary, so you can see that we were married less than two years before Kristin was born. In fact, Janet and I have never reconsidered that decision to grow old with our children. As we get older and now the next generations is college age, or getting closer to it, we have been favored to have been an active part of that generation as well.
Kristin has been a blessing in so many ways. You can’t be around her and not have a good time. And everywhere we turn, we are reminded of her status as the oldest child and some of the trials and tribulations that we went through trying to raise a child in the early years when we were still struggling.
I think about those days quite often. In some ways, I am a softie… We still have the blanket that she came home from the hospital with. And this morning, as crazy as it sounds, I remembered the small blue tub that we got as part of Janet’s departure from the hospital. It was to be used to give Kristin a bath after we were taught how to do it.
Would you believe that to this day, we still have that little blue tub? Yes, it has been repurposed… Now I use it to catch extra birdseed when I fill up the gallon jugs to store seed in the garage. But every time I use it, I still think of the day we brought Kristin home from the hospital. Our home is filled with all kinds of remembrances of the kids. We have Christmas ornaments, hand prints, all kinds of cards and even a few notes that have been written to us throughout the years thanking us for something or expressing love for us…
I have written about the kids and our grandchildren many times so I won’t drone on. But I do want you to know that children are a blessings and our family has survived health crises, job loss and just about every kind of trial we could possibly have. And through it all, we have persevered.
Kristin, as the oldest child, has had to bear the brunt of the responsibility. And, on balance, she has done an admirable job. I like to think that Janet and I had a hand in the way that she has turned out. Tonight’s verse is the biblical mandate to spend time working to raise our children correctly. Jill and Andrew have followed close behind.
Solomon tells us, in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Of course, “he” can also mean “she!” My encouragement this evening is that the outcome is well worth the effort we spent. Yes, it was tiring, and expensive, but the results have told the story… My prayer is that we maintain the stamina to keep working on helping the next generation to achieve those same results. It doesn’t get any easier, but we are the eldest generation now and that means that all eyes are on us, all the time. Happy Birthday, Kristin! We love you more than you know and will be there for you whenever you need us. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…