I love my children so much it scares me. What if I can't protect them?

Loving someone that much turns every risk into a thing you must personally prevent. The psalm calls them a heritage — entrusted, not owned — and pairs it with the reminder that the watchman who never sleeps is still not the one keeping the city. Hannah handed Samuel back and he was no less hers.

The conversation

The child: “Daddy God, I love my children so much it scares me. What if I can't protect them?”

God: “That fear comes from love. I feel the same way about you.”

The child: “What does it say?”

God: “'Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.'”

God: “'Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'”

The child: “So I don't carry the whole weight of keeping them safe?”

God: “You never could. You're the steward, not the owner.”

God: “Hannah wept for Samuel. Then she gave him back to Me.”

The child: “Giving them back feels like letting go.”

God: “It's letting Me hold them too.”

The child: “And when they're grown and I'm not there?”

God: “Then I will be. I was there before you were. They're My children too.”

The child: “I'll love them fully and trust You with the rest.”

God: “They're safe in My hands.”

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3, KJV