The Heritage of Family Resemblance
A few days ago I was shopping with my mother in a local store. Mom had meandered to the grocery area and I was cruising the aisles, just browsing while she picked up what she needed. As I moved into an outer aisle, I saw a woman who glanced at me and smiled. I smiled back and continued on with my browsing until I got bored, then headed to see how Mom was faring with her shopping. Rounding the corner, I saw her talking to the lady I had seen. Even with Mom’s memory issues, she seemed to know this woman and was connecting with her, so I kept a polite smile on my face while they conversed.
The lady finally turned her attention to me and began to ask the obvious question of whether I was Mom’s daughter. I responded that I was, and she just smiled and said that when she saw me earlier that she knew I was a Blair (my Mom’s family’s name)…specifically, she thought I was my cousin Linda. I laughed because it’s not the first time I’ve been told I look like her. And as we finished the conversation and left to go our separate ways, I couldn’t help but think how strongly genetics play a role in who we are. We are intricately designed, even before we are born. The Message Bible puts it this way from Psalm 139: 14-16:
I thank you, High God––you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration––what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.
That lady at the store didn’t know me personally, but she definitely knew to which family I belonged just from seeing my face. The resemblance to my cousin was obvious to her. So this begs the question: If our physical characteristics can be that apparent to those we don’t know, then how much more our spiritual characteristics should reveal us to others as belonging to the family of God? Do we “look” like Jesus to the world around us? Do our faces radiate the love and compassion that identifies us as a child of the Most High God? If we can’t be recognized as a child of the King, but we claim to be part of His family, then something is amiss.
I’m glad I was recognized as part of my earthly family from someone I didn’t know, but more importantly, I want to be known as a daughter of the King. Help me, Lord, to look and be more like You!
Now, for the June 2015 desk calendar! It’s a reminder that the Lord watches over us wherever we are. Download your free copy today and be encouraged that He is our keeper, our shade at our right hand, and most importantly, our LORD!
