Heritage-blessing or burden

I am always up for a good read.  I love to read, and I will pretty much read any genre, however my favorite by far is christian living.  I recently began reading through Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Maheney with a group of women from my church.  This weeks chapter was on children... being a "new" mother (I'm not really sure when I don't qualify as "new" anymore, I still feel like a new mother so I guess I will continue to call myself one until I feel differently, that may never happen... anyway...) I am always looking for Godly advice on child rearing and loving my child.  This chapter is hands down the best compilation of advice and biblical council on this topic I feel I have come across.  Carolyn makes the point first and foremost that children are a heritage, a blessing from the Lord.  Not a financial burden, not a responsibility, not a burden to carry around for the rest of your life like a baggage set.  Children are a gift from God.  I know that sounds so simple, so elementary.  But whenever I read this I was sitting in the middle of my living room surrounded by books, blocks, stuffed animals, dirty diapers, and a sticky child that was insisting on putting her fingers all over my new Kindle.  I was feeling a little less blessed and a little more burdened.  God convicted me right on the spot and I looked at my sweet little Lynnlee, my filthy, sassy, mouthy, joy-filled, energy exuding baby girl and her sticky hands and face and saw it.  I saw the blessing, I saw the joy of motherhood in her eyes.  The chapter went on to say that we can get so lost in the serving part of motherhood that we lose the opportunity to enjoy them, to really delight in our children.  The Bible commands us as mother's to love our children.  The word for love that is chosen to describe this emotion is phileo, this kind of love means to delight in, to feel joy.  This is the blessing of motherhood, that we have the opportunity to love them with a phileo kind of love, to delight in them.  This doesn't mean that we give in to their every whim and desire, that is not loving them that is indulging them.  That doesn't mean we don't discipline them, that is not loving them that is neglecting them.  It means we do all the things we do for our children because we delight in them.  In every single thing I do for Lynnlee I should ask myself the question "How will this affect her soul?"  That is our ultimate responsibility, to love them so well that they are drawn to the Lord.  If I truly do this each and every day, take this responsibility to love her with a phileo kind of love, to reprove and correct her in a way that leads her to Jesus, motherhood takes on a whole new meaning.  "There is nothing easy about good mothering. It can be back breaking, heart wrenching, and anxiety producing. And that's just the morning."  But with that great responsibility comes an even greater grace from God! Thank you Lord for the blessing of this child!