Just to be clear. The people in this picture are not related to me – as far as I know. It’s a stock photo.
Do you have your mother’s hair and your father’s eyes?
God’s design for the human race is fantastic. The more I learn about the human design and life systems in every area the greater is my admiration and respect for the God we serve. His being so creative, so detailed, so artistic, and so thorough makes me more and more grateful for His love and acceptance of me into His family by His grace and mercy.
We have three wonderful kids(all are adults now, and 10 grandkids – one of those 10 is on the way). Can hardly wait to meet him/her! Our three look very different from each other. One has dark hair and hazel eyes, one has red hair and blue eyes, and one has dark hair and brown eyes. Looking back at their grandparents we see where those characteristics originated and how they came through us to them.
More important than their physical appearance is their soul condition. This has become a more difficult issue for me in the last few years, as I have come to realize my lack of control over my adult children. Don’t get me wrong, they are wonderful Christian adults, and I am proud of them all. Have you noticed that our kids/grandkids don’t do everything the way we did? In many ways, that is a good thing. We feel honored – almost all the time – by the way our kids live life. I believe they are wiser, better communicators, and healthier in most aspects of their relationships than we were at their ages. They have honored us.
I am not sure what they got from Carol or from me in those areas of life, but I do know what they got from their relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. They look more like Jesus all the time….mostly. Non one does this life perfectly. Right?
They do exhibit love – but not always or in every relationship. Often we see joy expressed and shining through their countenances. Peace in the heart and families is a growing fruit of the Spirit in each life and family. Patience is an asset they demonstrate in growing measure. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are present in each life and in increasing measure. Can you see why I am not only proud of them but also very proud of the Savior Jesus, who is producing such fruit in them.
I wish they exhibited those fruit all the time, to everyone, and to each other; but they don’t. Do they in most situations? Yes. I wish I always exhibited the fruit evidenced when Holy Spirit has complete control of me.
When the fruit is not being produced, it stands out like an ink stain on a white shirt pocket. Ever had one of those? Leaky pens do that. We all leak, don’t we? Not one of us is righteous in every way, every day, in what we say, think, and do. But when we see progress, we are grateful. As the stains I have caused begin to fade over time after confession, forgiveness asked and received, reconciliation, and new life replacing old stains with purity and love, I am proud to be a follower of Christ. I have hope because my stains are disappearing in the whitening power of mercy. Love is covering a multitude of my past sins, and I know that Jesus did it.
Where there should be the stain of my sin, weakness, ignorance, and poor choices, there is purity. The garden of my life, once full of weeds and stones is now freshly plowed and newly planted with good seed. God taught me a principle years ago that I am just now recalling as I type these words.
If the field of my life has had weeds of sin and failure sown into it, then my job is to sow so much love and right choices into my today that the weeds hardly even show up any more. Some of the weeds I have pulled, thrown on the heap, and burned. Some I can’t pull (though they are forgiven) since I have sown them in another’s field as well, but my Jesus will make it all right one day, and they will not be held against me in eternity.
My Father has given me His eyes to see new life in new ways, His ears to hear heavenly, eternal calling and worship. My pleasure in life is to look like Jesus in my behavior and live from a heart filled with His love. I want to “look” like Him.