Replication

Okay, I'm giving myself a speed-writing challenge on today's CWO quote:

“I thought about the whole notion of "reproduction,"
and what it really means to replicate yourself.
Is it merely about the passing on of eyes and chins
and hair color? Or is it, rather, the replication
of the heart? Do we leave a bigger mark by
passing on our genes, or our thoughts?”

~ Shannon Woodward ~
author of:
Inconceivable: Finding Peace in the Midst of Infertility

My first thought is that replicating myself is a scary thing. Not so much the eyes and hair part, but the heart and mind part. I am so aware of my own shortcomings and bad habits that my kids so readily mirror back to me: tone of voice, volume of voice!, selfishness.

But fortunately, it is not just me that my kids are modeling themselves after. To the extent that I can be Christ--"not I, but Christ"--to them, to the extent that I am able to love and honor God and "grieve not" his Holy Spirit residing in me, I believe that He takes these small loaves and couple of fish that I offer and He multiplies them.

I am also grateful for the body of Christ at our church and the spiritual genetics it is passing on in our kids. The vibrant, authentic worship, the solid Bible-based teaching, the emphasis on prayer and praying for one another are giving them such a genuine notion of faith that I pray they will always be as able as they are now to tell a counterfeit. At church and in our family, they are part of a strong culture of whole-hearted devotion to God--and if that weren't the case, I don't know if I could have kept having them.

Imperfect and weak, I am. But where I am weak, He is strong--and He is Father too. May HE be replicated in my children's hearts and minds; may I be His hands and feet and voice.

(Yeah, gotta work on that tone of voice.)