Just like your family name

It’s kind of funny how you learn new things about someone years into your relationship. I’ve known my daddy my whole life (obviously!), but I didn’t know until this summer that he once wanted to be a lawyer.

I picked up another random fact about him this weekend. When he worked in downtown Birmingham, my dad often ate his lunch at the park I pass on my weekly visits to the library. He would follow those meals with a visit to the museum where I’ve recently begun to volunteer.

It’s not that those pastimes seem contrary to my father’s personality; I simply never imagined him as the art museum type. It’s neat to realize the better part of my Sunday afternoon somehow mirrors my dad’s time years ago.

Indeed, the older we get, the more I find my parents and I share. It’s not even me turning into my mom (and dad). That would be quite the challenge, since they’re different in so many ways. There may be elements of that, but there’s also a tendency of them becoming more like me.

My mom’s musical interests are starting to mirror mine (however slightly). Last year I bought her Johnny Cash and Dave Matthews Band CDs for Christmas, and Caedmon’s Call joined her collection at Mother’s Day. Daddy and I have had more similar tastes for years (which is how I knew he’d love the Coldplay CD I sent for Father’s Day).

But part of our increasing likeness is the work of Christ in our lives. It’s not that we’re becoming Christian auto matrons. As the Holy Spirit guides our steps and changes our desires, the foundations from which we operate become alike.

I’m not always proud of the ways I reflect my parents. The bad jokes I crack sometimes echo my mother’s silly sense of humor, and my stubbornness was once the source of many disagreements with my dad. But the sanctification in our lives is a trait of which I’ll gladly boast. Christ is at work in my family; let his work be proclaimed.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14, NIV)

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