What's in YOUR wallet?

I’ve been researching my family tree. It’s astonishing to see how many children some of my ancestors had. The large family, of course, long ago stopped being the norm. While some struggle for years to have a child, many others find it fashionable to avoid parenthood altogether. After all, kids can really cramp your style, right?

Childlessness and small families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists. As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative values have led them to raise large families.

Tomorrow's children, therefore, unlike members of the postwar baby boom generation, will be for the most part descendants of a comparatively narrow and culturally conservative segment of society. To be sure, some members of the rising generation may reject their parents' values, as often happens. But when they look for fellow secularists with whom to make common cause, they will find that most of their would-be fellow travelers were quite literally never born.

Some worldviews are a literal dead end. Children and families, of course, require sacrifice – a concept not popular in today’s self-absorbed culture. As a commercial tagline once said, though, it’s the “toughest job you’ll ever love.” Sure, I could have a larger bank account or more freedom alone or just with my wife. But no amount of money could replace the photos of three growing boys, full of love and promise, that take up the slack space in my wallet.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. PSALM 127:3