Many people are familiar with Psalm 137:3, misquoting it as: “Children are a gift from the Lord.” This verse is especially popular on Mother's Day and Father's Day in churches everywhere.
The quote is almost accurate except for one word: FROM. When a gift comes FROM someone, the giver relinquishes all ownership. The recipient can do with it as he pleases.
But children are a gift OF the Lord, meaning they are on loan to us. When you lend someone something, you retain ownership and expect the item to be returned in the same condition as when it was loaned to you.
How much better this world would be for children if this were kept in mind! Parents, if constantly aware that they would be held accountable to the Lord for how they treat their children, would see them as the valuable beings that they are. Child abuse and neglect would disappear overnight if we never allowed ourselves that our children belong to God, a being far more power than we can ever hope to be, and that He will repay us for how we treat what is His.
