In praise and thanks of Abba

Romans 8:14-21

           The Spirit of God and love is pure gift. I was not raised in a so called traditional home. I was raised in what some might call the beginning of the end of marriage and families as we (thought) we knew it. My Dad moved out when I was 5 years old. My parents were divorced in a time when it was considered by many to be the largest of social taboos. My mother was ostracized from her faith by the 'good' Catholic women who thought she was akin to Mary Magdalene (who was also wrongly accused and was misrepresented by the church as a prostitute.). So my mother, while not a prostitute, lived with the judgements of her church and those of the 'Alter Society' and others that made her feel like a second class citizen. I was no mere child myself. I was "the product of a broken home". That statement clouded my faith for far too long. Even with all that divorce and judgement I was and still am quite a blessed boy, now man.

           Where did I get the idea, the gut knowledge that God was my father, by 'Abba'? Abba means more than father, it would be more akin to 'Daddy'. An intimate and loving word, Abba is how I felt and I knew I was loved - always. This cannot be learned. This is pure gift.

           Can this foundational knowledge that I have, that we share, be taught? Was the Spirit that I exuded my entire life something that I learned in our broken home? God laid forth his love and His gift to me from the earliest moments of my conception in His mind. This is true for all of us if we can get in touch with this knowledge. If we are not too busy and not too distracted. If we stop, we can see we are born to be free, to love, to soar.

           As a witness to my life in the presence of God's love, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. This passage speaks volumes to me. How does it speak to you? Are you free? Are you know you are loved? Can you praise in spite of life's turmoil? Can we judge life by a different yardstick? By God presence and love?

           Today I will be embarking on a month long (at home) retreat. I hope to stop myself from twirling in the world to see what is around me, what is going on and how God is revealing himself / herself to me in the visions I see daily but that I may be too busy to notice. This is part Lenten retreat for me, part gift and praise.

            Perhaps we are getting nearer to the time when we really should step back and look into our own lives and life to recognize how gifted we are and how loved we are.  Seek out time aside from the world. Seek time to be present to yourself, to God and to His love. Welcome to a new month. Always a new opportunity to love and praise.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.