Well, Bless Your Heart."

"Well, bless your heart.” I wish I had a dollar for all the times I’ve heard that lately. We would be rich. Not Bill Gates rich, but you get the point. I often have my three children with me where ever I go, the grocery store, church, Wal-mart, the park, the library. You know, where ever life in general takes us. People often ask how old they are and I tell them, 4, 2 and new. Then It comes, “Well, Bless your heart!” or my 2nd favorite, “Well you must have your hands full.”


Some people, like my wonderful Mother in law, bless my heart and it is a sweet term of endearment. It conveys care, concern, a level of compassion that makes you feel as if the individual blessing you cares for you and your situation. But most people bless my heart with much less enthusiasm for my young family. Often the bless you heart is the intro to how they feel about me having so many children so close in age. Like it is their kind way to pronounce judgment on my young and growing family.

I am amazed at how freely people joke around asking if we know how we got pregnant, or ask about birth control. To which I would love to reply something sarcastic right back, but in remembering that I’m a pastor’s wife and a reflection of Christ. I try to hold my tongue. A lady working in a department store told me three young children were too many. And I had another lady tell me before Christmas, She sure didn’t envy me. She then went on to tell me how she hated when her children were young.

Wow! I don’t want people to envy me, but I sure don’t want my children, (who were with me) to get the impression that this lady’s attitude and all the others are biblical. I want them to understand that children are a blessing from the Lord; That Larry and I are blessed to have them as our children. When people bless my heart I try to say I am indeed blessed. That I love my children, that I would rather be their momma than anything else in the world.

And the crazy thing is we only have three children! I wonder when it was that three children became too many? It was only two generations ago that large families were the norm. There are lots of families that I know of in my grandparents generations that had 8, 10 even 12 children. I wonder if those Mothers had their hearts blessed all the time.

If God chooses to bless us with more children, Larry and I would be thrilled. But He’ll need to give me thicker skin because I can only imagine how many more comments we will receive if we have 4 children. I should make a shirt that says, Yes, They are all mine, and I home school too! Just to get people really worked up!