“We need to put our trust into the divine Providence, and, so to say, do not plan for children, because they are the gift of God, and only He knows how many children he should give you – He and no one else but He.

Indeed, since life nowadays is very harsh, some have decided to have only one child and this is why they protect themselves. Anyhow, this is a great sin, because those Christians think they are organising their life, better than God would. In their pride, they underestimate God’s providence, but He knows their heart, their financial situation and many things we do not know. And even if the family is poor and can barely manage to grow one child, All-knowing God can take care of the financial situation of the family”.

In the case of many people, God does not bless them with a child so that they may love all children as if they were their own…

Let us consider the example of Saint Joachim and Anna, who were left without children until late in their life. This was considered in that time a great misery and the people were judging them for it. But God knew that their seed will conceive the Mother of God, who on her turn will give birth to our Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ!

Other parents set as their goal to give birth to many children, and God allows for it to happen, since he respects man’s freedom and sometimes He does not want to deal with our complaints. But after that, parents start to deal with many concerns: since they have overestimated their powers, they give birth to, let’s say, eight children and as a result they cannot cope with all the aspects that involve raising so many children.

God Himself, He establishes the number of children that a family should have: once He sees that the parents would not be able to raise another child, he will not allow them to conceive any more.

For those of you who wish to have a child “by force!” Leave it to God, because he knows when the right time will come. Some people, even if their life is not very ordered from a spiritual point of view, “push” God to give them a child when they want.

In His love, God gives them their desired child but with time they will see that, growing up, he becomes anxious because he inherited the passions of his parents, and they, themselves will fall into a greater state of anxiety, because they have conceived a child who resembles them in their passions, since they did not tried to purify themselves before asking for a child.

Therefore, husbands need to put their faith completely in the hands of God and not to hinder His will. They should let God do His will, because thus He will live in their hearts and will bestow upon them His grace and blessing.

(Translation from Cum să educăm ortodox copilul, Editura Sophia, București, 2011, pp. 10-12)