Adoption
We have adopted three children whom we love very much. It's not a normal thing for people to do when they are in their seventies, and had we known that within a year of adopting them Lois would have cancer we might have hesitated. I'm glad we didn't know then, because since these children were infants, we have known them and have grown to love them. We could not imagine not having them as our own.
We also have four biological children. We certainly love them unconditionally, but we really had no choice. They were born to us; we were excited at their births, but we had to accept what we got. It wasn't the same with these three adopted children. We were under no obligation to take them into our family, but we chose to love them. We chose to give our hearts and our lives to them.
The children take turns praying before every meal. We have not told them how to pray but, without exception, every time they pray they say, "Thank you that we are together, that we are a family."
I don't know about other states, but in Oregon when a child is adopted they are given a new birth certificate. Our children's new birth certificates list us as their birth parents and indicate that at 65 Lois apparently gave birth to our youngest son. They have also been given new names - our names.
In the process of becoming our children, they lived for a while with our daughter, Sondra. During Lois's cancer treatment, they also lived with our other daughter, Michelle. They now refer to what are legally their sisters as "Mommy Sondra" and "Mommy Michelle". They also still have a good relationship with their bio-mother, whom they call their "tummy mommy". Yet they confidently say that Lois is their real mommy. There is no question in their minds as to what family they are part of.
As I contemplate this adoption, I am struck with the similarities to my own situation. I have been adopted. I was chosen, loved, and adopted into the family of God.
"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love. he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will" ~Ephesians 1:4-5
Scripture also says that I have been given a new name, a new nature, and a new destiny. Whereas I did have an earthly father and mother, now God is my real father, and Jesus my legitimate brother.
"See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him." ~2 John 3:1
I have earthly siblings, a brother and a sister. I have a good relationship with my extended family. Yet my closest relationships are, and should be, with my spiritual family—my brothers and sisters in Christ.
"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household," ~Eph 2:19
As my adopted children refer to several mommies yet have one real mother, I too could claim several identities. I am a citizen of two countries yet raised in a third country. I am a graduate of two universities, a retired engineer, programmer, and aircraft mechanic, a former missionary. All those things describe me, but my one true identity that supersedes all others is that I am a child of God. My relationship to Christ must override and permeate every other identity.
As my adopted children daily give thanks that we are a family, I wonder if I express the same gratitude for being in the family of God. Is the fact that I have been adopted by God the most important event of my life? Am I known as Mark, the engineer, Mark, the missionary, or as Mark, the man of God?
I believe there is a lot I can learn from my three adopted children.