“Mom, me and my honey, we gonna move and get our own house. You wanna live with us?”

“Bethany, you don’t have a honey yet and you live with us, sweetie.”

“Yes I do. My new zip be 6604 and we gonna get 5 cats, 5 dogs, 5 baby pigs, 5 goats, 5 chickens, 5 baby horses, and 5 turtles and 5 kids!   You and Dad can live with us.”

“I know it’s fun to pretend Bethany, but you’re our little girl and you’re going to live with Dad and I for quite a while yet..”

“Mo—om!” said with exasperation and conviction! ” You not understand- I almost adult!”

LOL! This is probably the 20th time I’ve heard the emancipation proclamation in the last month  but I think I glimpse a surprising overarching clue in that statement.

Why in the world did God design the family- a man and woman coming together to form a circle of love?  What is the purpose of parents?  Why didn’t He just let everyone come on the scene as adults- like Adam and Eve?  Why babies and children and teenagers that have to grow and develop before entering adulthood? Why something as complicated and intimate as a family?  Wouldn’t it have been simpler to create everyone independent of each other?

I think He purposed to have a glimpse of His Father’s heart by making us first children in a family and then parents raising children.  No doubt there are many broken, sick families that don’t reflect all of His glory, but deep inside, children long for their parent’s love and approval and parents learn selfless, sacrificial love of the deepest kind when they raise children.  I would go as far to say that when you have children, your understanding of God explodes to a depth not previously known!

We mature at different rates and ages but I will always lovingly think of my children as my CHILDREN!  God will always perceive you and I as His children and take a Fatherly heart of love, discipline, and correction to us- simply because we are His own.  Just as we cheer and celebrate our children’s growth and independence, He applauds and celebrates our growth but stands ready with open arms to nurture and parent us!  Through Jesus’ sacrifice, God offers adoption into His family.“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”

I’ll never forget one particularly trying week when the kids were little.  Noah said, “I can’t wait til I’m an adult and I can make my own choices and rules.”  and I replied “Yes, and with those choices come lots of hard work, responsibilities, and bills. Being an adult isn’t as fun as you think it is, Noah!”

I think I might have lost something precious for a while when I took on the persona of adult. I become more serious, responsible, and worried about things like it all depended on me. But that day, when I responded to Noah, the Holy Spirit spoke to my weary, worried, frazzled adult heart and I heard my Father’s voice- “Remember Cindy, you will always be my child! You can ask me to take care of you.  I’d love you to come to me and trust me to take care of all your needs instead of worrying and thinking because you’re “grown-up” you have to do it all by yourself.  I delight in being your Father and while I love to watch you mature, but I want you to run to me with your worries and your needs. You may have a lot of roles but remember you are first and foremost my daughter and I am your Father!

Isn’t it comforting to discover your identity in the truth that you are His child and He will not only teach & guide you, discipline in love and correct you but also take care of us? It makes me feel safe and secure, lighter somehow, to know that ultimately my “Perfect Daddy” is in control and has promised to look after me and make things work out for my best!

If we could live with this childlike trust and perspective, I’m convinced worry and stress would be obliterated in our lives.  For what child (in a normal home) ever worries that their parent won’t provide shelter or food, protection and clothing?

“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.  Matthew 7:11