I Am...

I use the Daily Walk for my reading and devotional time in the morning.  Last week it challenged us/me to find Jesus' seven I am statements in the book of John.  It prefaced with the following story.  'To screen and select the first seven astronauts for the American space program, each applicant had to complete the sentence "I am...," in 50 different ways.  After using up the obvious answers - "I am a man, I am a test pilot, I am from Florida" - the candidates quickly discovered how penetrating and thought provoking that question can become." (Daily Walk, October 2011 pg 32)  So as I went finished the devotional I set out to find Jesus' seven I am statements.  Here is what I found:

1.      I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst (John 6:35)

2.      I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. (John 8:12)

3.      ...I am the door of the sheep. (John 10:7)

4.      I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. (John 10:7)

5.      I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25,26)

6.      I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the father but through me. (John 14:6)

7.      I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1)

 

This got me thinking about how I would finish the statement I am and how my children, in turn, would finish the statement.  Jesus was God incarnate, our shepherd, our sustenance, our eternal life, our source, our God.  What who and what are we?  It made me think about what my family would say I am and what my friends would say I am?  What do people see when they interact with me or my kids?  Last week I quoted Henri Nowen, "We are called to be fruitful - not successful, not productive, not accomplished...", and talked about being a fruitful work in progress, but how are we sure what we are progressing toward?  And what are we setting in our kid's path to ensure they are becoming fruitful works in progress, even when the fruit is not what we were striving for?

I once heard a pastor talk about speaking actions into being.  If we seek to find how we or our children would answer the I am statement we have to consider what is in their head and heart.  What kinds of things are they being told each day?  And are they living up and into those words, good or bad?  Jesus knew beyond a shadow of a doubt who he was and is.  I definitely know some things beyond a shadow of a doubt; I am a child of God, I am loved, I am forgiven.  But there are other things that I hope people think of me and that is where the fruits of the spirit come in.  Would people use the fruits of the spirit to describe you or your kids?  I know I don't demonstrate that each day and we all know that my daughter doesn't, based on last week's post, and I can tell you that my son does not either.  But if we go back to the fruitful work in progress idea and pair that  with  the words that go into our heads and hearts each day and the words we put in our children's heads and hearts each day, we get a picture of how we can begin to speak our children into the people they were meant to be in the Lord.

Last year I was fortunate to be involved in a discipleship group.  Through that process one of the things that we did was come up with 10 affirmations for our kids.  Based on my previous understanding and belief in speaking actions into being, I wrote words for my kids that encompassed all they were but also all they could become.  I have revisited those words with my kids occasionally and need to revisit them more frequently.  But for both kids the word kind is included.  If they think they are kind, and told they are kind, maybe they will act more kind.  In contrast, if a child thinks he is unfocused, and he is told he is unfocused, he will act unfocused.  See where I was going?  If we are affirming our kids with what they can become, don't they have a better chance of becoming that?  Similarly, if we are studying God's words and memorizing and trying to follow his path, don't we have a better chance of being a fruitful work in progress?

In Deuteronomy 11:18-21 it say, "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore  to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth."

I will be revisiting the words I have written for my children this week, and attempt to be more intentional with them.  I want to fix them in their minds and hearts, and speak them into being, so they will be fruitful works in progress as they faithfully employ the fruits of the spirit.