We’ve all done it – wondered who our children might resemble or take after. It’s pretty clear with my kids. The girls look like me and Deacon looks like his dad. Of course, we will always have those family members who desperately want the kids to look like my great-great grandmother or their dad’s eleventh cousin removed. It’s the way that family works.
Now their personalities are a completely different story. Bella is too young to tell, although I’m pretty sure that she’s gonna have a bit of an attitude like her older sis. Kennedy is strong willed, stubborn, a people person, and can just make someone feel really special. We are seeing her magnetic personality bloom very early. Deacon, I think, will be intellectual like his father; however, he definitely has my love of gab. The boy can talk!
I am guilty of sitting around and wondering what my children will become or how they will leave their mark on this dark world that we live in. I’m scared to death that I might miss teaching them some important life lesson or be too hard on them in the long run. I am pretty tough on them and, there have been times, where I even shocked my self. There comes a point where we all begin to compare ourselves to our parents and we cringe,maybe even cry, at how we are turning out to be just like them.
There is no doubt that I am my mother’s daughter. I look just like her and I am pretty sure that I have a lot of her personality traits. I have just used them in a different way. Unfortunately, I am unable to say of I am anything like my father because I never had the privilege of knowing who he was. Or should I say, I have never met my earthly father.
By the time I was 19 years old, I had been told that three different men were my father. By this time, I really didnt care who he was. My life had already been defined and I knew that my identity did not come from him. I am grateful for his help; however, he does not give or take anything from me at this point. I rarely consider what my life might have been like because I know that it has already been planned out and I AM DOING GREAT…
As I look at my beautiful children, I feel so blessed to see a part of my husband and I in them. More importantly, I wish to see Jesus in them. My son may have his father’s eyes and my daughter’s may hold their mother’s spirit but I want them to hold their Father in Heaven’s heart. I want them to love like he loves, forgive as he forgives, and live like he directed us to live.
Philippians 2:1-5 says, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”
As we look at our children and wonder who they resemble, let us strive to look past the outer characteristics and look to their hearts. We have been intrusted with the future children of the kingdom. Christ gave us an important role in fulfilling his prophecy. While we must profess his love to others, we must also raise his children to love and honor, to show kindness where there is none, to open their hearts to many, to give hope to the hopeless, and to have the desire to bring people to Jesus.
Beyond all the blue eyes and curly hair – I want to see Jesus in my children.
Manna and Coffee 