Saturday, May 12, 2012

Can you see whose child I am?

No matter how many places we live, how much schooling we receive, how many jobs we go through, or how many relationships we experience, the people who have the strongest impact on our lives will always be our parents. In most cases, to be more specific, it’s your mother. They say that’s the primary relationship in our lives.

The older I get, the more I realize I’m like my mother. Physically, to be sure. And also in the things I say. But most importantly, in the way I look at the world, in my attitude. One way I’m a lot like my mom is in my honesty. This is both good and bad. It’s good that I’m an honest person, but sometimes it’s not so good when I express that very bluntly, without a whole lot of tact. Both the good and the bad of being honest are something I get from my mother.

It’s not hard to see whose child I am. But I'm not only a child of my parents, Bob and Roberta. I'm also a child of God. And that gets me to wondering... do I in any way resemble the one I relate to as my Father/Mother God? Do I ever find myself doing something and thinking, I guess it’s not hard to see whose child I am?

Of course, God hasn’t had the same kind of influence on us that our mothers and fathers have. God influences us in a different way. Before he left them, Jesus promised his disciples that he was going to give them something that would help them become more like children of God. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

Our moms and dads have a tremendous influence on who we are as people. Their influence comes at the beginning of our lives when our brains are like wet clay, and they shape us. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives and softens that clay up again. She shapes us in new ways. When we open ourselves up to the Spirit in our lives, it becomes more and more apparent that we’re more than just products of our mothers and fathers. We’re children of God.

May you grow to live in such a way that it’s not hard to see whose child you are.



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