O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to give you praise. Psalm 8:1-2a

Childhood

            Childhood. We only get one. The way it plays out--good or bad, easy or difficult, stable or unstable, calm or not so calm--shapes our view of "normal." We carry the seeds sown during this time with us into adulthood, and they're either a foundation to build upon or stumbling stones to rise above.

            Joseph, beloved firstborn of Jacob (Israel) and Rachel, grew up in a family where the stumbling stones of jealousy and competition were strewn about like seed. His mother, jealous of her sister Leah's ability to bear children, contrived to give Jacob children by giving him her handmaid. When Leah stopped bearing for a time, she jealously did the same. Thus many sons were born to Jacob, twelve in all who would go on to become the twelve tribes of Israel. With all of these people competing for Jacob's approval and attention, his family was a nightmare of jealousy, misdeeds, and mistrust. This was Joseph's childhood.

            And then, to top it all off, his brothers sold him into slavery.

            Of course, we know the Lord turned the brothers' evil intent into something good for Joseph and many others, too, eventually. Joseph eventually became second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Pharaoh trusted Joseph's wisdom and judgment so much that he allowed Joseph to lead the nation through crisis, the preparations for the drought that would come. And yet, at the height of his power and success, Joseph, overseeing the stockpiling of enough grain to feed the entire nation for seven years, still carried with him the seeds of sadness sown by his childhood. How do we know? By the names he chose for his sons:

Joseph named his older son Manasseh, for he said, "God has made me forget all my troubles and everyone in my father's family." Joseph named his second son Ephraim, for he said, "God has me fruitful in this land of my grief" (Genesis 41:51-52).

            "In this land of my grief." Oh my. Doesn't that just break your heart? Fame, power, success, all were Joseph's in Egypt, and yet, "land of my grief." Had Joseph actually forgotten his troubles and his father's family as his first son's name suggests? No. Maybe his first son's name was given in hopes of that becoming true, or because Joseph thought it should be true. After all, considering all God had given him, shouldn't he be grateful? But it wasn't true. Joseph was grateful for God's blessings, yes, but he hadn't forgotten. His troubled childhood was still with him, in spite of his miraculous rise to power and wealth. Would he ever be restored?

            Yes, he would. With God, nothing is impossible. Restoration and reconciliation did eventually happen. God turned those stumbling stones into the foundation of a better life for Joseph and his family. (To read the rest of the story, see Genesis 41 - 50.)

            Hundreds of years later, when Jesus was asked who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, this was his response:

Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven . . . . Beware you don't look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father" (Matthew 18: 2-3 & 10).

            "In heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father." Does Father God care about children? Yes, yes he does.

            Childhood. We only get one, and if the one we had wasn't so great, God can turn its stumbling stones into the foundation of a better life for us, too. But let's consider this. Just as we only get one childhood, so do our children and grandchildren. We're the adults now. How mindful are we of the seeds we're sowing in these little ones' childhood?

Daye Phillippo

February 2016