Parents are People too: The gift that makes you laugh and cry

Scripture: Genesis 18.1-15, 21.1-7


I was bench coach the other day at my son’s baseball game. I was bench coach on this particular day because I felt like sitting. This boy sat next to me, waiting his turn at bat; and as I watched the game I could feel him watching me. This is how he initiated conversation:

“Did you cut yourself shaving?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you have to put a piece of tissue on the cut?”

“Yeah. . . I did that.”

Then there was about a ten second pause and then this:

“You have hair in your ears. That’s cool.”

“Uh, Candler, I think it’s your turn to. . .”

“You have hair in your nose too.”

Don’t kids say the darndest things? As Bill Cosby said, “I love kids. I used to be one.” But they’re not always cute and cuddly and sometimes they do exasperating things. They can drive you to intense fury and then surprise you with sublime joy. They are a gift that makes you laugh and cry, sometimes in the same day, the same hour, the same minute.
The key word here, the kernel of truth is gift. Children are a gift.

If you lived in Abram and Sarah’s time this truth would be so obvious as to be laughable. Having a child, particularly a son, an heir, was hugely important. In Genesis 15 God promises to bless Abram and all Abram can say is. “Lord what can you possibly give me that would matter, since I don’t have a child to share it with?”

Right there we know where Abram’s dreams and sadness lies. He is “ a man of advanced years” and he is looking over his life because he thinks it’s over. And he has no children. And because of this, in spite of everything else he has seen and done, the places he has gone and the joys he has known, in spite of the wife who has traveled with him in his adventures all these years and continues to love him, in spite of all this. . . .Abram finds that his life has been a disappointment. He can think of only one thing that would change this judgment of his years – a child, a legacy – the one thing he knows is beyond hope.

I don’t have to tell you that Abram and Sarah’s sadness and disappointment has been experienced by so many since. Couples who have longed in vain to become pregnant, and singles who have dreamed of children of their own, live with this disappointment. The message that children are a gift is such an obvious one to these folks that it is almost a message not needed. But this sermon is not for them. It is for you who have had or will someday have children of your own. It’s a message that bears repeating – children are a gift.

We say we know that. Only puppy dogs rival children for affection on the cuteness scale in our culture. And yet, sometimes, far too often, our children get treated like nuisances, inconveniences, stray pets that no one wants anymore.

One of our retired educators told me about meetings he had with parents over discipline problems that the child was creating at school. This educator told me that many times parents would come in genuinely concerned to correct the situation and see their child improve and grow. Sometimes a parent would come in and confess to them that they were simply overwhelmed by their parenting responsibilities, they seemingly had tried everything to make their child listen and nothing seemed to work. They were exhausted and discouraged parents. But even in these cases, their exhaustion and discouragement pointed to a real love for their children.

But there was another kind of parent, this educator told me. This parent came in not so much exhausted or discouraged, just disgusted and disinterested. The conversation between the educator and this kind of parent went something like this:

Educator: “Thank you for coming in today. We are concerned about Johnny. Not only is he underperforming on his schoolwork but his behavior shows that there other serious problems as well.”

Parent: “The kid is no good. And I don’t care what you do with him. I never wanted the “&!#(“ in the first place.”

Oh, I forgot to mention one detail in this true story. The child being discussed was sitting in the office as they heard how much they were wanted by their parent.


We say children are a gift. Too many children, through what they see and hear, think they are an inconvenience and a nuisance. They’ve been told too many times to mistake the message – “you are unwanted and worthless.”

It’s a cliché perhaps, but peal back the skin on a messed up adult and you find a child who was unwanted and unloved. There is in perhaps no greater calling in this life than to love children as parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and friends.


Abram and Sarah were at grandparents age with no hope of being grandparents. And into this barren situation comes a gift. A prophecy. God says to Abram and Sarah you are going to have a child. What’s more you’ll be grandparents and greatgrandparents and. . .well look up into night sky and see the stars, count them if you can – your descendants will be more.

There’s a scene in the movie City Slickers in which three best friends are riding horseback together and talking about baseball and marriage, the important things in life ( not necessarily in that order) and one asks the question, “What’s the best day you’ve ever had? And don’t say the birth of your kids ‘cause that’s too easy.”

But I say it’s gotta be the birth of my sons. The day I got married was great, but I can truly say I didn’t know what love for my wife was then like I know now. But the day Seth was born. . . the moment I took him in my arms and spoke his name to him, that was a moment I will never forget. In fact I look at him in the same way sometimes, with awe and wonder that I could take part in making and shaping such a creature. Joy and wonder. Joy and wonder. I laughed and cried that moment and that day.

Does that mean I always look at my children with joy and wonder? No. Sometimes I look at them in anger. Sometimes in disappointment or sadness. Sometimes I fail to look at them when they really need me too. But the best reminder to me always of who they are and who I ought to be to them is this: they are God’s gifts to you, Rich. Treat them accordingly.

God’s prophets told Abram and Sarah they were gonna get an eight-pound gift.
And they laughed. They laughed as desperate people laugh when God tells them that good things are finally coming their way. And they kept laughing all through the pregnancy and birth. Well, Abram laughed all the way. Presumably Sarah’s laughter was interrupted with the occasional scream. But they both laughed as they named their son, Isaac, Son of Laughter.

Children are little people that take us to places we have forgotten and to a trust and faith that without which we cannot see God. These next several weeks we will focus on some general principles in being good parents and mentors to these gifts that God has gifted us all with to love and care for.