Imagine being handed a surprise gift. One that's not earned, not demanded, but freely given. Not accidental or random, but intentional. Not a trinket or token, but a soul; a living, breathing reflection of God's image, given into your arms for you to keep. This is no ordinary gift of course. This is your child. When God gives this child, He’s not just adding another human to the earth. He’s inviting you into something eternally meaningful that changes, not only your life with Him, but the course of history.

Now, if God merely wanted to populate the earth, He could find a million ways to achieve this. But He has chosen this: that men and women would become stewards of these tiny, little human beings, nurturing them to maturity, and loving them for the rest of time.

Why is this? And what reasons do we, the men and women, give for deciding to have these children? Is it to have a nice family picture hanging up on the wall? Probably not. That may not be worth all the effort! Is it for satisfaction? Is it for legacy? Is it just for the sake of it?

One very profound reason that God invites us to become parents is this: for us to enter into a covenant walk with Him, the true and living God. He delights in children and entrusts you and I to be the keepers of these children. He makes them not in our image and likeness but in His. Our children are His. Simply put, they are given to us only for a moment in time.

We have all heard it said that children are a gift from God. This is 100% true. Let's look at how this reveals His invitation for a covenant walk with Him.

Bible translators, in an effort to help us understand the truths being communicated to us in Scripture have always done their best to make each verse comprehensible—especially considering the change and development of meaning of words over time.

In our modern English, we seem to prefer to say 'gift', rather than to go around saying 'children are a heritage from the Lord', which is the more traditional or old-fashioned way of putting it.

But the powerful phrase 'naḥălâ', which we translate as 'a gift', 'an inheritance' or 'a heritage' literally does mean something inherited, as in some possession, property, or portion received by an heir.

This is important to note because it connotes that children are not a gift, as in the often randomly picked thing you will find under pretty packaging on your birthday, but rather are a gift in the full sense that they are freely given because I am an heir, (not because it was my birthday or some other special day).

Likewise, we know that the Scripture goes on to state that the 'fruit of the womb', that is our children, are 'His reward' or a 'reward from Him', depending on which version you read, the key word here remaining 'reward'.

Now, again, we might prefer to think of 'reward' as something gained because of our efforts, like some kind of award that we have rightfully earned after doing well on some job or project. The idea behind this word however, is much more significant than that.

The word we call 'reward' is śāḵār and it means payment, wages, or salary. In other words, it is the benefit I receive for working for He who has hired me.

This is extraordinary and worth paying attention to because it puts you and I in direct contract with God, no different than entering into a business or work contract where both parties recognise their responsibilities, though even more importantly, where the work must be delivered and completed as expected or as expressed in the agreement—in honour of the payment or the 'reward' that is promised or already given.

In this case, God has already given the advance payment. The child is the advance reward coming with the explicit expectation to do deliver and complete the work in a manner worthy of the Boss.

God gives a child, the inheritance, and through the physical union that leads to conception and then commitment to releasing that child into this world, we naturally nāḥal (which is this time the verb of the aforementioned 'naḥălâ'), meaning we naturally take or accept possession of this inheritance.

In other words, we sign the papers, and that agreement between us and God activates.

This is much more important than contracts made by the hands of men which can be adjusted, abused, and terminated. This holds the highest level of importance because it is more than a contract, more than an agreement, more than a "deal". It is a covenant.

The moment the umbilical cord is cut, we enter into a covenant with the God of the universe because 'cut' or kāraṯ, in the original language, is the biblical word for the making of a covenant.

• There is blood and water in the covenant-sealing act of our salvation when Jesus hangs on the cross and is pierced in his side with a spear.

• There is blood and water in the covenant-sealing act of marriage, when the woman's hymen breaks and meets the man's semen, mostly made of water.

• There is for sure blood and water in the covenant-sealing act of parenthood, when the amniotic sac bursts, mother births baby, angels rejoice, and parents experience a tiny taste of heaven

God's favourite thing to do with man is to enter into covenant with us.

Now, are all parents aware of this? Do all parents know how to play their part in the covenant? Does God only give children to good, loving parents? Is it easy to understand the complexities surrounding such topics as infertility, miscarriages, or infant and child death? The simple answer to all of these is 'no'.

As we can see, however, God is in this. When He gives us children, He deeply desires to come into a covenant agreement with their parents (that's us!) to reveal His greatness, grace, and glory in our lives and on this earth, to continue refining and perfecting until the coming of Jesus.

When He gives us with children, He is committing to draw us closer than ever before, provide all the wisdom we need to raise them, and ultimately continue to change the course of history through them.

Like the appearance of the rainbow in a sky, let the sight of your children be a constant reminder that God has initiated a covenant with you. Embrace it and carefully seek out understanding of it, desiring that you may live on the inside of it to experience all of its blessings and promises, as you parent the children which He entrusts to you.