An Adopted Treasure
Her birthday is Wednesday. It doesn’t seem possible, but she will be ten years old. It is not true that she has been a part of our family for a decade. She’s been a part of our family and our hearts since we first learned that there would be an addition to our family.
I’m sure that is the case with most families. As soon as it is discovered that a child will be born, the love already starts. There are months of prayer and preparation. Both anticipation and excitement build.
However, it was not quite that way with her. Unlike most families, we only found out that she would be our granddaughter seven weeks before she was born. One Friday night, we learned about two unmarried people who were about to have their third child. They literally could not afford to take care of this child. Our oldest granddaughter was born a mere seven weeks from that evening. As she made her grand entrance into this world, she was handed to our daughter-in-law who was in an adjacent room. She has been “ours” ever since.
Her daddy (our son) got it exactly right recently when we were able to hear him preach. She cried, he choked up, and Grammy and Grampy tried to wipe away the tears when he referred to her as “our adopted treasure.”
She is, indeed, that–and so much more–to us.
We have five grandchildren. Each one of them is special to us in his or her own unique way. I am not writing these words in order to leave the impression that our adopted treasure is more special to us than any of the others. Each of them is a treasure. She is the only one who happens to be adopted.
The reason I’m writing these words is to try to help all of us (including me) get some semblance of a grasp on how important we are to God. You see, our son and daughter-in-law had to make some serious decisions in order to provide a home for an infant who really had nothing to “bring to the table.”
Sacrifices were made in terms of time, energy, and financial resources. Our granddaughter is a part of our family because of their selfless demonstration of the kind of love we may read about in the Bible, but may rarely see “in real life.”
In a somewhat (but much more significant) way, my Father decided that my salvation was worth the ultimate sacrifice. He was/is willing to provide a home and identity for me, even though I had/have nothing to “bring to the table.” As the song says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”
I will never fully understand God’s love for me. I can, however, be eternally grateful for the purpose of our Lord’s mission. Paul was inspired to write that He came
…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Gal. 4:5-7).
Even though he made me cry, I’m glad that our son used the expression our adopted treasure when talking about his daughter. I’m praying that my Father looks at me in the same way.
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