Rejoicing in my children

I recently finished reading Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (again). As with any great work of literature, new things impressed me this time through, probably because of the change in my life experience since I last read it 15 years ago or so . As Christiana is being called to cross the river in the end of Part II, and enter the land of the King, Bunyan writes this:

Then she called for her children, and gave them her blessing; and told them that she yet read with comfort the mark that was set in their foreheads; and was glad to see them with her there; and that they had kept their garments so white.

I found myself crying as I read those words. I knew exactly how comforting that was to Christiana, as she looked towards the end of life in this world. I, too, take the same comforts. My children have that mark upon their foreheads that sets them apart as the Lord's. They re not marked because they were smart, or because I was a great parent, but because God, in His grace, gave them (and me) this gift.

And their white garments: to have made their way to a godly marriages, free of the stain of premarital promiscuity, and now delighting in the wives and husbands of their youth is another gift of God's grace, and a rare one in our day. And more than that, the garment of the righteousness of Christ is theirs through faith, and His garments cannot be soiled by us. He covers us.

Bunyan finishes the above paragraph this way:

Lastly, she bequeathed to the poor that little she had; and commanded her sons and daughters to be ready against the messenger should come for them.

Ben and Elsa and Tim and Nikki, I am so proud of you, and so comforted by your faith and love! Stand firm in these lives you have started together. Be ready against that messenger who can come at any time and require your presence in heaven. Remember that mark on your forehead, and keep your eyes on the Celestial City.

I love you!