THE PROCREATIVE ROAD LESS TRAVELED - INTRODUCTION

As I write this my wife is pregnant with our eighth child. She is presently suffering through tremendous bouts of morning sickness which last all day long. Based on past experience she will be sick for at least the next 6-10 weeks. It is not easy to wake up each morning for weeks on end and feel like your world is crumbling down around you. She crawls (and sometimes it is literally crawling) out of bed to the bathroom where she dry heaves for the next thirty minutes. Then she crawls to the couch where she lays in abject misery until nighttime, futilely trying to school and get control of seven children who are running around acting . . . well . . . like children. For my part I have not been the most understanding husband. I have in the past criticized her and gotten angry at her for her lack of mobility. I have been weighted down with the burden of caring for my wife, the children, the farm and trying to maintain a law practice. Needless to say I don’t do this cheerfully or well. I say all of this to show you that what we are doing is not an easy thing. I understand why someone would look at us and say Thanks but no thanks. Year after year we repeatedly endure this every 18-24 months, and I could further go on and on about the trials and tribulations of raising a large family. It is tough hard work. Not only that, but our entire culture is geared to go against what we are doing. It is tough to swim against the cultural current.

I say all of this not to get a pat on the back from you or your sympathy, but to dispel this notion that all of this somehow comes easy to us. I am here to tell you that it does not. We are not some magical family. My wife and I are no saints. We fail our kids and each other on a daily basis. There are not too many days that goes by that I don’t question my sanity. So why do we go through this? Why we have so many children?

I first want to say that I know that this is a sensitive topic for a lot of people and I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I can not explain the why without telling the entire truth, and the truth is divisive at times. So if you are easily offended then stop reading right now.

Now that the rest of us have tough skins, the second thing I want to say is that this is mainly written to Christians. It is not as if non-Christians will not understand what follows, you can enjoy the ride but there are several presuppositions that I will take for granted with my readers, which unless you have had the same grounding, may feel like entering a strange and foreign land.

Thirdly, this topic should not be approached willy-nilly but with tremendous trepidation and deliberateness. Aside from your personal salvation this is perhaps the most important decision you will make in your entire life. It is more important than choosing an occupation or a house and even a spouse. Those things are temporal. In procreation we are taking partnership with God in creating not a temporal life in the here and now, but an eternal and immortal being. My friend forever is a long time. If that is not weighty enough, you are also creating in this child the potential for future generations of immortal beings. The ramifications of your actions and/or non-actions will be felt not only on this earth but throughout all eternity. This is heady stuff not to be taken lightly.

To be continued . . .