C is for CHILDREN

I love children. When I was younger, some of my best friends were children. Life was uncomplicated, free time was playtime, meals were cooked for you and the only letter that came addressed to you was a birthday card and probably contained money. We loved children so much that we decided to get a couple of our own, though by the time they knew they were our best friends, life was definitely more complicated, play time no longer existed, free time was a good imagination and we were the ones putting the money inside the greetings cards! Then one day, quite suddenly and not by accident, they grew up and went away. But they still like the odd meal cooked for them and the odd few pounds in a birthday or Christmas card. I guess they'll always be our children and I guess we'll always love them. Isn't that the way life happens? I'm sure it was the same for our parents, but you just don't realise it until you step into their shoes.

Good friends of ours decided to have children but their path was much more complicated than for us and eventually led them down the road of adoption, from an overseas country. But the whole process was fraught with difficulties and red tape and took much longer than a normal labour term. I'm sure at times, as they made journeys back and forth from their chosen country, that doubts and worries filled their minds, that at some stage, they might lose their newly adopted child, if not in the early stages, maybe later in life, when they became aware of their former background. I'm sure there were awkward moments visiting the child's home, possibly meeting a mother or carer and realising the responsibility which they would soon undertake and I'm sure, occasionally, they had second thoughts. But their determination and perseverance prevailed and their decision to provide a permanent home for a child became reality. So much so in fact that they did it twice more, going through the same lengthy process, the same worry and the same emotions so that their family would be complete. Now, many years later, they can look back on those times as so rewarding for they have three children whom they love dearly and can call them their own. I have so much admiration for them and I don't know if I could have done it but, looking at their children now, I know they made the right decision for everyone.

I still spend most of every working day with children, though our relationship is quite different to when I was a kid and I guess I wouldn't call any of them my best friend, though I like every one of them. It's the old 'in loco parentis' thing that bothers me sometimes. As a teacher, I am meant to be there for them in place of their parents, yet political correctness gone mad won't even allow me to give them medicine if they're sick or put a plaster on a cut if they fall. But in truth, 'in loco parentis' is just an idealistic dream, for every parent knows that you love your own children in a way that is totally different to that for any other child, no matter how close a relative they might be. It's what we call unconditional love, no strings attached love or love requiring no love back. But it's so nice when that love is returned.

I've often written about God's unconditional love for us and how it continues even when we don't show love back, but it does help to focus the mind on that love when I am reminded once again that I am a child of His, through the sacrifice of His own Son and because of that Father-child relationship, I will inherit all that He has promised to me, including the most precious gift of eternal life. In his letter to the Galatian church, Paul writes, 'You are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.'

As I write this, the local news reports of another local couple plunged into grief by the sudden death of their six year old son and while I can never truly grasp their level of pain, as a parent I can understand the depth of love they have had for their child throughout his short life. And I can understand how much it must have grieved God to give up His only child for me when He was the one who made the decision.

They say children should be seen and not heard. I don't reckon a parent wrote that and I'm, sorry if I disagree, for children change lives and God's child changed my life for ever.