As you may know, for decades, in an effort to ensure national and economic stability, the government of China mandated that every married couple could have only one child.  Forced sterilizations and abortions were common, and any couple who chose to have multiple children lived in fear of discovery.
     
Now that all has apparently changed.  In a rather ironic reversal, the Chinese government is now asking, indeed, strongly encouraging couples to have more than one child.  The country's population, it seems, is facing decline:  the number of elderly will soon overwhelm the number of newborns.

     I do not wish this to be a commentary on the government of China.  I rather share this because, to me, it underscores that, all things considered, although we do well to carefully deliberate about having children, we do even more to consider that, in the long run, we are wiser to invite, rather than thwart, the life rhythms implicit in the world God made.  The world is made for life.

     And God is life.  Let's trust him, and ourselves, to live and apportion it with wisdom and abundance.