Children's children
are the crown of old men;
and the glory of children are their
fathers. Proverbs 17:6
I've been thinking about this for some time.
Finally, I'm going to actually put this into words.
I'm in no way criticizing either situation, it's just total
observation.
I've observed two widows.
One widow is a dear friend of mine.
A few years back, my fella and I stopped at her home
for a visit.
It was right before she was going to have a surgery.
I volunteered to come clean for her during
her recovery.
During my visits cleaning, we became
friends. I enjoyed sitting and listening
to her and she listened to me.
We'd laugh and cry together.
Recently another lady in our church became
a widow. She lost her best friend after
many, many years of marriage.
I stopped over to visit her at her home
a few times.
I instantly noticed something about her home.
It was busy.
Although there was sadness for this widow,
her home seemed happy.
Siblings, children, and grandchildren filled
\each corner with memories, pictures and cards.
The second widow has five children and many
grandchildren.
She also has her siblings around her.
The first widow only has one child and one
grandchild and the grandchild is not on this earth anymore.
She has one brother.
Her home is cheerful with her neat, clean memories, but
there were no colorful drawings from young children.
No recent pictures on her frig.
There was no box in the corner, filled with
toys for the visits with the grandkids.
The only voice was from her television.
Quickly I noticed the very striking difference.
Children.
Even in older years, children continue to be a blessing
to one's home.
Each time I've visited my dear friend (the first widow),
she'd share how lonely she is.
How sad to see such sadness.
I stopped to visit the second widow, she was busy
packing up to spend the week with her youngest son
and his family.
Sometimes things in life can't be helped,
such as the amount of children you have or the
length of days you spend on earth
with your spouse.
But I have noticed that one of the
biggest blessings in life, is the relationships
you have with people.
Parents, siblings, spouses and other loved ones
can fill the space around us with love and dear memories.
Oh, Tammy, that was such a good post! I've known people who have decided not to have kids because they "enjoy being free". Josh and I often talk about that- about how they may be enjoying themselves now with all their toys and vacations, but what about later? I couldn't imagine coming to the end of my life and having nobody.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed this post. you really are good at writing. I love to hear about your life, family, and the things you do with the teen girls and ladies from church. What you wrote about in this post, expresses exactly why I always desired to have a large family. Growing up and even after graduating school, I thought that God would allow me to get married to a godly man and that we would have a family (I had hoped a large family). That was not God's plan. I can say, that God does give us the strength to be alone. I am very blessed to have such great and godly friends who allow me to feel like part of thier family. Even though I don't have my own children, God has given me children around the world to be like a mommy to. Like you expressed, each situation is differant and comes with different blessings. Keep posting, I love to read!
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