“Bob?”
A big, adult-sounding voice called my name…
My two year old granddaughter was the only other person in the room.
She had called me “Bob”?
Not only had she said my name, she said it with the same tone of voice my wife uses…
Just then, my wife walked into the room.
“Paula?” my granddaughter called, imitating my intonation exactly…
We laughed, and told her to call us by our special grandparent names – names only she can use.
That night, the whole family ate dinner together…my wife, our granddaughter, our daughter our son-in-law and his parents.
Suddenly our granddaughter looked at my wife and called her by a name that made everybody at the table stop in mid-bite or mid-sentence and stare at her….and us…
My face got very red… So did my wife’s.
I am embarrassed to tell you what our granddaughter called my wife. It is a name she has heard me use often.
It isn’t an angry name…
It isn’t a profane name…
It is a pet name that my wife and I have called each other since we were married 37 years ago. Most guys (including me) don’t want to admit that type of sentimental behavior.
So If you are wondering what pet name I use, keep wondering. I will never tell you.
I was a little embarrassed. But if there is something I want her to imitate, isn’t it two people still using pet names decades after they said “I do”?
Two year-olds are very good at imitating…Even if they don’t know exactly what they are imitating.
We adults do the same thing…
We imitate God without really understanding …
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8-9
We imitate His love, but sometimes our poor copy of love becomes lust.
We imitate His power, but sometimes our poor copy of power becomes self-serving.
Our poor imitations sometimes hurt others…
God watches. What must He think?
Perhaps He watches us with the love of a parent for a child…
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; Ephesians 5:1
Why else would He see all we do, and still offer us His love and grace?
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God… Ephesians 2:8
What can we say, but “Thank You”?
What can we do but strive to imitate Him ever more closely?
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love 2 Peter 1:5-7
