It was 1965 and this was my family. I’m the little guy on the right. Our family spanned the babyboom. My oldest brother was born in 1946 and me at the end in 1961. My sister doesn’t look very happy because she got in trouble for not standing still for the picture.  Doesn’t my Dad look like a rich man?

Scripture
How joyful are those who fear the Lord—
all who follow his ways!
You will enjoy the fruit of your labor.
How joyful and prosperous you will be!
Your wife will be like a fruitful grapevine,
flourishing within your home.
Your children will be like vigorous young olive trees
as they sit around your table.
That is the Lord’s blessing
for those who fear him.

May the Lord continually bless you from Zion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper as long as you live.
May you live to enjoy your grandchildren.
May Israel have peace! Psalm 128:1-6

Observation
Where are the great rewards found in life? Frequent flyer points? Maybe on the Dow Jones? Or how about Vegas? Nope. Not in any of those places. The world’s greatest reward is not found around the kitchen table with dad at the head, mom wiping spaghetti up from under the high chair, milk drizzling through a the crack in the middle of the table and lots of giggles hemming the edges. Relationships at home are the greatest treasure of life and children are a sign of prosperity.

For the first time in US history the number of nuclear families has dropped below 25 per cent of the population. Nonetheless the word of God is still stands true. The greatest blessing God can give in this life

to a man is his wife

and to a woman is her husband

and to husband and wife are children.

I’m glad that I was born before the microwave replaced the fireplace in the home. My mom planned her meal menu a month in advance and stocked her pantry and freezer with parts of the meal not packages. Mealtime was an event. Our plate always included meat, a green vegetable, a yellow one and salad. Desert followed like clockwork as did family prayers. My mom worked a full-time job to help keep five children fed and my brother in college. How she managed these productions without a microwave I’ll never know. But what an investment she made in our souls as well as our bodies. Those thirty minutes around the maple kitchen table followed by another 30 minutes around the kitchen sink hold the happiest memories of my life. Meal time was the cabinet meeting of our family. My folks weren’t rich but they were wealthy. Their nest eggs smiled at them every night as they dangled their little feet around the table.

I’ve been coaching my son through the process of buying his first home. He and his wife have scrimped and saved for a deposit, but the escalating cost of homes keeps eluding their grasp. Here’s what I told him. What matters most is not the house but the people in it. So God can delay things to get the family ready to move in. The proof of that the family matters more than the house is that in future years you will lose touch of homes that you own, but you will always want to keep in touch with your children. I’ve owned three houses, but I don’t phone their current owners to see how the water heater is holding up or if the pool is clean. Those homes served their season and are now memories. But I phone my children nearly every day, though we are scattered across 10,000 miles from one another. My children not my houses are my reward. I told my son, “Give God time to build what matters and dare to believe that he wants you to have a home more than you do. Just give him time.”

Application
How can we see this blessing delivered in microwave families? Listen to this advice:

How joyful are those who fear the Lord…

May the Lord continually bless you from Zion.

To inherit God’s richest blessings we need to do two things:

First fear the Lord. Remember that one of the prime mandates of being a parent is not to be popular. Our goal is not to keep our children happy. A happy home will come when we become more concerned with what God thinks than with what the neighbor’s kids are doing.

Second stay close to God’s people. God blesses families out of Zion the city of God. The city of God is the local church. The closer we stay to the fellowship of believers the nearer we come to the way God blesses families. It takes more than a whole village to raise a child, it takes a whole and healthy local church.

Prayer
Father, I want to see your blessing around my table. My kids are starting to scatter. It’s good because they are starting to take root and flourish where you have placed them. But I do ask for moments when you fulfill this promise and gather them all around our table in our home. I cannot imagine any reward greater than that. Amen.