Children of God

Psalm 127:4

    Children are gifts from God who grace our lives and give us the opportunity to reshape the world. Like any passage from scripture we interpret them differently depending on where we are in our life. While I know that my children are clearly God’s gift that I was graced to shepherd and teach,  I have to confess that I did not always show them the appreciation that they deserved. I was all caught up in the day to day minutia and worldly concerns. When I was much older ( now ), I am able to see with greater clarity, enjoying just how much a gift my grandchildren are. I am less concerned with the worldly and more concerned with loving acceptance and reveling in them being the person that my grandchildren are.

When I was an active Deacon I had the privilege of baptizing babies. I would always speak of the great opportunity that these children offer us, to make the world better, to teach them and show unconditional love and the message of the Gospel in which we believe. Babies are blank slates for us to write on, to correct what we see in the world as shortcomings. It is not just to the parents that I preached but to the entire family and faithful assembled. 

Sometimes I think we feel that opportunity to change only works when we are young and more malleable. In Lent we make a special effort and commitment to ourselves to have a greater appreciation of our humanity and appreciate more fully the fact that Jesus was also fully human.

Just as a baby learns to walk with one tenuous step, so our Lenten journey started with a simple decision to make Lent more than simply giving something up. It may be time to recommit, re-assess and take another step on our Lenten journey.

We are all beloved children of God. Just as my 37-year-old daughter and 35 year old son will always be my babies, so also does God see each of us as his beloved child, full of potential and love. We can decide how much we want to live up to that potential.