Last night my wife heard a speech she shared with me.  In it the guy said, “You just can’t fake good kids.”  It got me to thinking.   Psalm 127:3-5, says  “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior. So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.” It says something good about the parents, AND something good about the kids.

Good kids end up honoring their mommas and their daddies; they grow up to be self-supporting; they find productive things to do that help others, and themselves.  What’s that line, “They make me proud!”  Good kids are respectful and obedient when they’re little, moderately respectful and obedient even when their teenagers, and they grow up to be friends in your old age. It’s a genuine gift from God to have good kids.

Hopefully good kids say something about the parents.  You know, the parents were good people; they loved their kids and were nice to them and took care of them; that they taught them to be honest, hard-working, responsible people; not just because it was the right thing to do, but because the parents had those qualities they were just passing along. They taught ’em to trust God.  They passed on the gift of God’s love and mercy they learned from their parents. “Freely you have received, freely give.” Matt 10:8.

Good kids even have Godly qualities; they know all about you and they love you anyway.  They put up with you when you get old and cranky; even when you don’t take their advice.  Good kids are people that you can really be thankful for.  It’s like that verse, Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he won’t depart from it.”  (Maybe in the middle he’ll fall off the wagon a little, but when he’s old, he’ll come back to the Way.)  What we’re all looking for is people we can depend on, now and later.  It’s especially nice when those people turn out to be our own kids!