A Story, For Life

For some unknown reason, in regards to the subject of marriage and family, and for me, it seems to have all started after the birth of my first child. I cried and prayed and blessed him from the moment I laid eyes and hands on him. He changed my world in ways that I will be figuring out for the rest of my adult life. He is my first-fruits and the first sign of my strength. I love Yahweh, I love my wife and our family. I love our first child, and I love children. I have always loved children. From our very first date, I had made it clear to my wife that I wanted a big family. I have always stuck to the number 7 because it is fairly ambitious and generally in scripture the number 7 represents completion. It wasn't a hard "rule" but a desire. The idea of having at least 7 children just really appealed to me. Now that I have had our first I am more sure of this then ever. Each and every child represents a joy and a hope and a life eternal, exploding into future eternities like a firework explodes in the sky, creating too many trails to trace, except for the divine sovereignty of God himself. . They would all be worth more than words. They would all be loved deeply. I think the ability to bring and provide for life, human life, and children, is by far one of the loftiest callings a man can take. It truly is work, I recognize that, and I am capable of that work, with God's help. Should I deny God's provision and limit him to how much he can provide? I love family, and I love children. I love life, and value it more highly then my freedom of choice. I choose to work hard and love and provide and believe Yahweh. Children are a gift and inheritance from the Lord, blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. I think, at the core, if I am honest, this is one of the most important and endureing aspects of the rewards of polygyny. I honestly, am deeply hurt that society has decided to, generally speaking, and as a result of moral sacred cows, abandon the very first creation commandment, "be fruitful and multiply". If I buck what is expected, if I somehow push harder for something new, if I ever get labeled as broken, because of these cultural and religious expectation, I pray that you, the reader, would recognize it is for the fundamental purpose of defending the truth and engendering the opportunities for biblical rewards as it was intended. It takes tremendous faith at this point, because I realize the challenges (mountains) that exist in front of me. Its not just a mountain, its a mountain range. Respecting each meaningful past relationship, and the fact that many of these people with influence in my life will push back, it is indeed a good metaphor to compare it to a mountain range. Every one of them is strong and opinionated (I guess I know where I get it from), and all of that expectation feels heavy. I will have faith in the Lord. I know that he sees a grander picture than I, or any of my contemporaries, or any of my opposers could ever see. So I push, I strive, I pray, I seek. I can only hope that it will not be in vain, but that the Lord would see my deep respect and profound thankfulness that I may indeed "encourage my children" and "my household" to keep his ways, and respect his truth and revelations. That I can have faith that this encouragement would be for their salvation and his Glory. May those I love be redeemed Lord. I hope that I too will find forgiveness, even in the midst of the struggle that will follow. I would follow the Lord wherever he would lead me, even if it was scary. May he redeem my life and my words, may he be the bearer and bringer of my success. In time it will be told.