God's kids

I have wonderful kids. They are both smart, funny, respectful children who adults enjoy being around. They both enjoy school and scouting. They are almost always to be found with a book in their hands. They share the same jokes and word games. They both have a strong faith in God and have trusted Christ for their salvation. They are alike in many ways. And some of those things are because they are growing up in the same house with the same parents and the same rules.

But they are also very different. David is more reserved. His Scout leaders tease him that he only uses about 500 words a day because he's so quiet. When he says something, it is usually worth hearing. David's friends are usually from his Boy Scout troop or kids that are in his Honors classes at school. He avoids conflict at all costs (except with his sister). Rachel is the outgoing social butterfly. She has never met a stranger. She is a champion for the underdog and doesn't like to see other kids treated badly (unless they are boys who are still "tofu-covered goobers"). She's on the closed-circuit TV news crew at school. She gets a constant stream of e-mails from friends. Life for Rachel is one social engagement after another: parties, Girl Scouts, karate, 4H BB Team.... David prefers to sit quietly at church and occasionally posts anonymously to the church's blog. Rachel is an acolyte and sings with the choir. David wants to write books when he grows up and is already working on a couple of them. When Rachel was 4, she wanted to be the Queen of the World. Now at 10, the Mistress of the Loophole wants to be a lawyer. Sometimes we to tell her to stop talking. David would rather go without than have a conversation with someone new. Rachel has absolutely no difficulty respectfully telling anyone exactly what she wants and expects from them.

As God's kids we are the same way. He gave us a list of ways that we should be alike. The Apostle Paul called them the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). They are attributes that we should have because we are God's kids and we should act like Him. And indeed with the Holy Spirit in us, guiding us, and correcting us, if we listen we will live these things. They are things that we learn and hear because we're in God's house.

And as God's kids we are also different. There are Baptist kids, and Catholic kids, and Methodist kids, and Charismatic kids and lots and lots of other labels that we have stuck on ourselves. God has kids who like it loud and enthusiastic and other kids who like to be still and contemplative. Within the Episcopal church there are 1928 Prayer Book kids and 1979 Prayer Book kids. And those differences are OK as long as we understand that we are still all brothers and sisters in Christ and can see past the label to the Fruit of the Spirit in all God's kids.