Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Imitation
by Becky Morrow

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved chidren and live a life of love…”
Ephesians 5:1-2a

Taking a 20-month-old to a game night with friends isn't tops on my list of good ideas, but we couldn't find a babysitter for Leah, so she came along to play Settlers of Catan at our friends’ home. Josh and April had the IBC Root Beer that comes in bottles. The edges of the bottle tops are kind of sharp, so to spare my hands, I grip the bottle with the edge of my shirt to open it. As the evening wore on, Leah began to play with the empty bottles."Aaron, what is our daughter doing?" I asked. Leah was sitting on Aaron's lap and sticking a bottle up the front of her shirt."Why do you think she's doing that?" Aaron wondered.

All of the sudden it hit me! She was pretending to open the bottle like all of us did. We never have IBC Root Beer at home, so she was imitating what she saw us do just that night.

When I notice Leah imitating me (which is pretty much a daily occurrence) I am reminded of our Scripture for today. I am amazed by the way Leah imitates me with startling accuracy...my actions, my words, and even my facial expressions. She sees something once and it becomes a part of her little life. I wonder why it can be so hard for me to imitate my heavenly Father. I think a lot of that has to do with time. Leah is constantly around me. She gets ready with me in the morning, she follows me while I make the bed, she listens when I read to her or sing little songs. Sometimes I think it's easy to lack the awareness that we are always in the presence of God and could see Him at work so easily if we had eyes to see it. Additionally, the more time we spend in God's Word, the more we know what He says about things, the more we see how Jesus responded to others and to life's difficult situations. It would be amazing if we could become sponges just like we were when we were toddler girls, because we'd soak up life-changing knowledge from our Father. And that is preferable to safely opening bottles!

GOING DEEPER:
1. How can you increase in your awareness of what God is doing around you? Remember, God can often be seen the most clearly in little things.
2. What are some things from the teaching or life of Jesus that you want to imitate? See the verses in "Further Reading" for some ideas.

FURTHER READING:
Mark 12:30-31; Luke 6:27-31; John 13:1-17

Becky is a wife and mother to her two-year-old and newborn daughters. As Oakwood-supported missionaries, she and her husband Aaron serve with InterVarsity at UW Platteville.
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