Like Mama – Like Daddy
“She got alotta her mama in her” … “ He inherited that habit from his daddy” … “ The apple didn’t fall far from the tree with that one” … these utterances have stigmatized many a boy, man, girl or woman over time. The young child that constantly heard, “ They so bad”, figured it was something to live up to…so they worked hard to prove everybody right. It may start off being “cute”, but marking someone as flawed or stuck with bad traits or genes, ain’t nothin but ignorance. Anybody can change. Anybody can break away from poor upbringing and create a new generation. Chains can be broken and new links can be installed. Just because our grandparents or moms and dads weren’t there for us, doesn’t mean we follow suit and dessert our own families. So what if the ones we depended mostly on gave more attention to everybody else…that doesn’t mean we do the same. I grew up with two parents … one that lived for self, the other lived for family. One was a part-time parent, the other worked overtime at everything she did. One was the spiritual leader of our home, the other, i never heard pray or got to sit with at church. I’d hear some dads singing praises to God, I’d hear mine talkin about his trips to the dog races, the golf course or the casinos. I can’t tell you the times I’d watch the interactions of couples at church…how the husband would hold the door for his wife, as well as others…how they’d share a smile and hold hands, sharing a hymnal … and I’d long for my own daddy to BE THERE, hearing what i was hearing, maybe catch a tear rolling down his cheek while sittin beside my mama. I tried tellin him how much i needed to know that he was “right” with God. I explained God’s word on salvation in Christ and Christ alone … but he’d never talk about it with me. I needed a daddy that loved God as much as my mama … but i never did receive one. His years drawing to a close, his quality of health deteriorating, he FINALLY called me from his hospital room and told me he’d given his heart to Jesus. He even said, “Phil, I know you’ve always worried about me” … and i really hope his salvation was secured in Christ. Waiting so late in life and not really being physically able to “catch up”, i didn’t get to experience anything but his tears that came more regularly and the look in his eyes as he stared at me with what seemed like an apologetic look. He’d started tellin me, “ Phil, no matter what, don’t forget that I love you.” I guess he was trying to make amends for all the times he WASN’T there…all the things he’d said that he wished he hadn’t, and all the things he didn’t teach me about loving God and living to please Him. I vowed early on to break that rusty chain and start with new links. I invited Christ to be Lord and Savior of my life and to mold me into the man HE wanted me to be. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. ( Galatians 2:20 ) If I’m wanting to be the best i can be, i must rely on Christ in me. If I’m to be a Godly daddy, Pep or husband, I’ve got to rely on Christ in me. If my work as an employee is ever to amount to anything, i must rely on Christ in me. Don’t compare me to anybody other than Jesus. I’m not my daddy and this apple comes from the “tree of life”. My circle of life has God in its center. And no, I’m not perfect…I’m still a work in progress…but God is still shaping me and refining me, molding me into the image and character of Jesus Christ ! If the same is your desire, don’t let anyone tell you that you won’t ever change. You can either stay your “mama’s daughter” or your “daddy’s son”, or, you can surrender to Jesus Christ and place your faith completely in HIM to change you. ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ) “_______, unless you are born again, you will never enter the kingdom of God” ( John 3:3 ).