“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.” (Psalm 127:3 NIV)
Why do people choose to have or to not have children?
“The Brookings Institution is making a media splash with its estimate that it now costs more than $300,000 to raise a child through high school, an estimate first shared with our news colleagues at the [Wall Street] Journal. Others are picking up the figure as if it’s a shocker. We don’t dispute the number, but that isn’t the way to look at it.
“No doubt it takes money to feed, clothe and educate a family these days, and inflation isn’t helping. But children aren’t merely cost centers. Even ignoring human affection and thinking in the most utilitarian terms, children are assets—to the families who raise them, to the nation in which they are born, and to the world to which they will contribute across their lifetimes.
“A bizarre idea we sometimes hear is that young people don’t want to have children for fear of climate change. Have children, or don’t, that’s your choice. But bringing another person into the world isn’t going to matter in the slightest to global temperatures. That is, unless your child becomes the adult who finds a solution to battery storage, or some other technological or business breakthrough that enhances the human condition.
“A real cause for concern is the declining U.S. birth rate that is falling below the replacement rate. Without immigration, the U.S. population would begin to shrink. This is nothing to cheer. Whatever children cost to raise, they are a priceless vote of confidence in the future.” – “Children Are Priceless” – Wall Street Journal*
“Children are a priceless vote of confidence in the future.” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Staff – a secular organization – names what God said thousands of years ago.
“Don’t you see that children are God’s best gift? the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? Like a warrior’s fistful of arrows are the children of a vigorous youth. Oh, how blessed are you parents, with your quivers full of children!” (Psalm 127:3 MSG)
God,
Thank you for the beautiful ways in which you create each of your children. Thank you for the young people you put in our lives to bless and be a blessing. Help us to take seriously our vows to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord so they can find their plan and purpose in your Kingdom. Help us love, encourage, and build up all the children in our world. We ask in Jesus’s name, Amen.
*Editorial Board August 20, 2022- https://www.wsj.com/articles/children-are-priceless-brookings-institution-cost-of-raising-a-child-11660943743?mod=opinion_lead_pos2
(originally published August 29, 2022)