Made in His Image

Tomorrow I will be at the 37 week mark according to the original ultrasound done at our doctor's office. There's not much time left! Especially considering that Caleb arrived two and a half weeks early, we are expecting to make that rushed trip to the hospital at any moment now to meet this precious child.  

35 weeks - Just a few days shy of 8 months!

The closer it gets, the more I daydream about what our baby will look like. Will he have brown hair like me and his siblings? Or, will the red hair genes a few generations down my family line combined with the ones on both sides of Dave's family be prominent this time to his Grandpa McKinstry's delight? Will he have the Scotch Irish skin of his father or take on the more olive hues of my side? Will he look anything like Hadley or Caleb, or will he simply just have his own unique look? While I know some features will change over time as that baby fat melts away, I'm ready to find out who he favors and put our Nikon to good use snapping away!

Knowing our children share some of our traits both outwardly and inwardly, sometimes I feel convicted doting over how beautiful, funny, and intelligent I think each of them are. Lately though, I've realized that a parent's joy in the details of his/her child's adorable features and personality are not just a vain pleasure. God Himself created us - His children - in His image! He is proud of us and delights when He sees us following in His footsteps. And, since our hearts were created in the image of His, it is no wonder we have this same desire for our offspring. Catherine Larson, author of Waiting in Wonder, even claims that through having children God gives us "a taste of the delight there is in creation, of seeing another made in one's own image, of the delight there is in seeing another grow in the family resemblance." 

In another entry, she points out that both genders are made in the image of God because both reflect the image of God - similarly in some ways and differently in others to provide a more complete picture of the Lord. (I love how she describes my children as "a special glimpse of the glory of God" for a purpose!)

In the women's Bible study that I've led recently called Life Principles from the Old Testament, the very first lesson talks about God wanting us to bear His image. ("God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27)  And, while that doesn't mean we are exactly like Him, it does mean that we should reflect Him in our words and actions. God wants us to share those traits so that we can have a unique relationship of oneness with Him because we enjoy and agree on the same things. 

The study went on to say that while God's first purpose in creating us was so that we would bear His image and have relationship with Him, the second reason was for us to reproduce that reflection, bearing and raising children who would reflect Him. That is why in Genesis 1:28 He commands us to multiply and fill the earth. 

The authors of this study also remind us: "The bearing of children means more than giving birth to little humans. It means raising them to become mature image-bearers who clearly display, express, and explain the image of God where ever they go throughout the earth. This requires not just procreation but parenting..." 

The problem is that too often, our children take on our stained image rather than God's. The same Bible study workbook I mentioned above, points out Genesis 5:3 as an example. ("When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.") Shortly after Adam has a son in his image, we see that the generations who followed were wicked and all their intentions evil (Genesis 6:5). The original design was disrupted, and instead of ruling over creation as God designed, men were slaves to it. 

The bottom line then is that our desire should only be for our children to bear our image when we are truly bearing His. Otherwise, it leads to their destruction as they mimic our poor choices. And, since all of us have our own flaws as parents, the only way we can grow our children in His image is to continue being conformed by His word daily, openly admitting our mistakes so that they know how to deal with their own, and praying for His grace to lead us on this journey.

Though I have mentioned several other spiritual insights God's revealed to me during this pregnancy, He continues to unveil more and more daily, especially through Catherine Larson's devotional journal. Along these same lines, she talks about how though we as parents fear failing, "our failures may even be what lead our children to know that only God can fully satisfy." How reassuring for the reminder that God truly works all together for good and that even when we don't reflect His image or can't meet every desire of our children that He lets us be imperfect so that they draw near to Him as the only truly source of contentment. Dave and I talked about this same concept one night before bed, discussing how frustrated and embarrassed we feel about mistakes we've made over the years but at the same time thankful that we have the testimonies of these experiences so we can better protect our children and nurture their hearts as they face similar troubles in this world.

God gives us the promise "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." (Proverbs 22:6); however, sometimes we don't even realize that we are training them in our ways versus His. For example, Larson describes how even in utero we are developing our children's tastes towards junk food or healthy choices. As a result, the author charges readers to consider how we affect our children's spiritual tastes and appetite for God. This is why we so desperately need to cling to God for wisdom and discernment.

To finish up this post, I want to share just one more thought from one of my favorite entries in Larson's journal found in week 24. The author encourages expectant mothers not to "lose sight of the fact that God has entrusted a human soul to [their] care" and to treat that child with dignity because he/she was created in the image of God. On the next page, she highlights that as mothers we are carrying eternal beings in our wombs whose "souls will one day be accountable before the living God." As a result we are highly responsibly for how we shepherd their hearts towards the Lord and "for how we treat these precious ones He has entrusted to our care." She emphasizes that our children are created to glorify God and that their existence is not merely for our personal happiness/fulfillment. Though it is so easy to get caught up in our own joy and expectations for the child been given to us, one of her other entries asks, "Have you seen this little life as perhaps part of the new story God is doing in this world? Have you rejoiced in this news as representing something bigger than just you and your personal happiness? " She then charges readers to glorify God and rejoice in that truth if we haven't already. 

My prayer is that Dave and I will hold on to these truths, focusing on the important task of helping our children grow in God's image rather than our own and boasting only in Christ and His light in us.