Today’s scripture: Romans 8:14-16 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (E’sha Cooper):
I was adopted when I was a baby, and it wasn’t until around second grade that I was made aware that my parents were not actually my biological parents. They were a man and a woman who wanted to raise me because my mother had abandoned me.
I didn’t find out through calculated and polite conversation. Rather a neighbor, my so called “friend” Michelle, was angry with me because I wasn’t playing with her, so she decided to let the whole lunch room know that I was adopted and that made something wrong with me. I remember being taken down to the counselor’s office, and she asked me how I felt. I didn’t feel “adopted.” Embarrassed, but not “adopted.”
When I got home I told my parents about my adventure in “haterville” and my mother affirmed to me that I was loved, and that was all that mattered. I knew deep down in my being that what she said was the truth, however I did go through some changes trying to see if Michelle’s declaration of my relationship to my parents made it true. I told my parents that I did not want their last name and a bunch of other stuff that I thought was a declaration of my uniqueness — but was really just my youthful foolishness.
Yet one day, long after that season had passed, I got some revelation. Although my dad was not my biological dad, I looked like him. (He said if you feed them they will look like you.) I liked doing the things he liked to do, and more importantly, he was my dad. It did not matter what the birth certificate said. I was his. He called me his daughter and I called him my dad.
That is why today’s scripture brings me so much encouragement. All that made me my father’s daughter was his adoption of me, no more, no less. All that makes us children of the Most High is God’s adoption of us. We didn’t have to do anything to get adopted. We don’t have to prove our worth now that we’ve been adopted. We just keeping eating at God’s table, and eventually we’ll look like Him.
Prayer for the day: Lord, help us to accept our status as your sons and daughters and embrace all the benefits that come with it. Amen.
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