Imitation
By
Tracy Smith
“Those
who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”
1
John 2:6 (NLT)
The first time I heard
the country song “Watching You,” by Rodney Atkins, it really hit home
to me as a parent. The song starts out with a dad and his four-year-old
son driving along and when the dad has to hit the brakes, the boy spills his
food and lets a four-letter word fly. When the dad asks where the son learned
that word, the son replies with:
I’ve been watching you,
Dad, ain’t that cool?
I’m your buckaroo, I
wanna be like you.
And eat all my food and
grow as tall as you are.
We got cowboy boots and
camo pants
Yeah, we’re just alike,
hey, ain’t we, Dad?
I want to do everything
you do.
So I’ve been watching
you."
The song goes on to
show the dad's reaction and give another nugget on the son and his imitations:
We got back home and I
went to the barn
I bowed my head and I
prayed real hard
Said, “Lord, please
help me help my stupid self.”
Just this side of
bedtime later that night
Turnin’ on my son’s
Scooby-Doo nightlight.
He crawled out of bed
and he got down on his knees.
He closed his little
eyes, folded his little hands
Spoke to God like he
was talkin’ to a friend.
And I said, “Son, now
where’d you learn to pray like that?” [1]
Of course, the son goes
on to repeat the chorus quoted above, that he learned to pray from watching and
imitating his dad. That song always reminds me that our children are watching
and learning from us at all times. Luckily, like this song states, they don't
just learn our bad habits, but our good ones too - - despite our "stupid
selves!"
My next train of
thought was that there is only one ONE person whom we can imitate and not learn
any bad habits: Jesus. The Bible tells us to look to Jesus as our example and
to imitate Him and those that imitate Him. The Apostle Paul says in 1
Corinthians 11:1 (NIV), “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate
Christ.”
I have to ask myself,
when people look at me, do they see Jesus?
GOING DEEPER:
1. When people
look at you, do they see Jesus?
2. If not, what
can you do to change that?
FURTHER READING:
[1] Atkins,
Rodney, “Watching You,” Curb Records 2006
Along
with being a wife and mother to two boys, Tracy is an administrative assistant
at Oakwood, serves on the Women’s Ministry Special Events Team and leads a
great group of Junior High girls.
