“What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to. But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God” (1 John 3 MSG).

I want you to read again this translation of these verses in the First Letter of John. Read them slowly.

It is as if John the Evangelist, John who had laid his head on the heart of Christ at the last supper and listened to the love that beat in his Lord’s most sacred and divine Heart, was trying to find the words to convince us that we are God’s children. Certainly, we’ve heard that a billion times before: with baptism we become God’s children. Do we consider how BIG A DEAL this is? My niece and nephew often played fondly with children of their friends. But now that they have their own child, it is a different story altogether. This is THEIR CHILD.

You can’t help but notice the delight in their eyes when THEIR CHILD tries to smile. It is impossible not to see the concern over every wail from their five-week-old bundle of joy that is THEIR CHILD. The sacrifices of sleep, time, and freedom are acknowledged but willingly made for THEIR CHILD. My nephew said to me, “She’s just perfect!”

“Accept being loved”

I think it is interesting in this quote from John’s First Letter, “That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.”

Try reading this verse to yourself, but substitute “my mind” for “the world.” “My mind doesn’t recognize me as being a child of God or take this seriously, because it has no idea who God is or what God’s up to.”

As we grow into our toddler years and beyond, if not before, our interpretation of what is happening around us or to us begins to crowd out the reality of what is in its most given and true state. Mom is slightly late to answer me when I cry out and my mind begins to interpret the world as not safe, a place where my needs may not be met. Or maybe the one watching me at the playground is on the phone and doesn’t show interest when I call out to show them the new things I learned, and I interpret the world as a lonely place, where I may not be seen or important. Maybe my brothers or fellow schoolmates laugh at me, and I interpret this to mean that I have no worth….

Gradually as we enter our childhood and then adult years, it is our mind’s interpretation of who we think we are and what we can become that takes the drivers seat. We begin to “have no idea of who God is or what God’s up to” in our life. We forget that we are HIS CHILD WHO FILLS HIM WITH JOY.

One thing that will help you become the Child you are…

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you slow down enough to catch the thoughts you say to yourself about what things mean and who you are. Notice which type of thoughts make you feel happy, rested, trusting. And which thoughts depress, sadden, and frustrate you.

Make a list of each. At the beginning of the day visualize two or three things you know will happen that day and watch yourself internalizing the thoughts of a CHILD OF GOD. At the end of the day you can look briefly back at these same situations and notice where the other type of thoughts snuck in. Relive the situation in your mind at that point internalizing the attitudes and beliefs of a CHILD OF GOD.

“When Israel was only a child, I loved him.
    I called out, ‘My son!’—called him out of Egypt.
I lifted him, like a baby, to my cheek,
    I bent down to feed him. (cf. Hosea 11:1, 4)