Blessed with Identity

My little grandson looked up into my eyes yesterday and asked, "Grandma, do you know who I am?" I, of course, wondered what was coming next! Maybe a lion or a dog or a kitty or a horse...? What came out of his mouth next absolutely floored me. He said, "I'm your grandson."

Wow! Talk about knowing who you are!

That gave me the idea for where to go next in writing about blessing. Remember from my recent post that I defined blessing as "empowering to prosper." Prosperity in this sense of the word doesn't mean financial prosperity in the way we often think although it could include that. When someone is prospering, it is tied to an understanding of who they are - their identity. They are at peace with who they are, not wishing they were prettier, shorter, taller, thinner, a girl instead of a boy or a boy instead of a girl. They are at peace with their parents, themselves and their neighbor.

They are not continually striving to measure up to some perceived standard they hope someday to achieve.

So how do we as parents and grandparents accomplish this seeming miraculous state of being in our children or grandchildren? I certainly don't have all the answers, but I would like to suggest that it is crucial that we separate identity from behavior as we teach and discipline our children. Somehow through our words and actions we must affirm who they are (identity) while we place consequences on behavior that we wish to discourage. This is sometimes difficult to do. Well, maybe it's always difficult to do. Nevertheless it must be done in order to teach our children and grandchildren that they are valued, important, OK, etc.

This whole process begins with an understanding of how God views us and how He views our children. A classic passage in Psalm 139 verses 13 & 14 says,

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

This theme is reiterated by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:10,

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

When we can look at both ourselves and our children through God's eyes, we have come a long way toward being able to bless our children and empower them to prosper in the knowledge of their identity as precious beings formed by God in just the way He wanted them to be.

Do you know who you are?