Children of God 

   “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.  Yet so we are.” (1 John 3: 1) 

   We are the children of God.  We may be unthankful children, wayward children, even recalcitrant children, but we are still the children of God.  He has so loved us that He is willing to call us His children regardless our faults and failures.

   How do we repay Him and His love?  Too many times with a half-hearted response to Him; a nod in His direction, but little more.  I believe we sadden God by our lack of love and devotion to Him, just as earthly parents are saddened when their children reject them and turn away.  Yet, He still loves us, He still calls us His children.

   By the grace of God, one’s faith often grows as one ages and begins to realize the truth of our mortality.  A stronger faith, a deeper love of God is often a part of growing old, of accepting that death is a certainty and perhaps not far off.  This realization, this call, is one of God’s greatest blessings.  In His love and mercy, He never gives up on loving us and calling us to Himself.

   I am a child of God.  I have always been so, but it took far too long to become a faithful, loving child.  In the words of St. Augustine, “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new; late have I loved you.”