Tag: adoption

There’s an old saying that says you can choose your friends not your family, but that’s not totally correct. There’s one way you can choose people to be in your family. It’s called adoption. Now before you close this article give me a second. I’m not marketing for an adoption clinic. I’m just using it as an illustration for you. Adoption is about being chosen!

Ok so have you ever had one of those friends in your life that made you wonder what you were thinking? Ha yeah so have I! But they were there for a reason. Now family is a different story. For most of us, we didn’t have a say in the family that surrounds us. But it doesn’t change the fact that they are family.

I have great respect for those who adopt! I think it’s a pretty cool thing. Actually I’ve told my wife that it’s something I would not be totally opposed to (most days).

Now adopting a child from the foster system isn’t the only kind of choosing that we need to focus on. There’s another way of being chosen that is immensely important!

There’s a passage in the Bible that talks about God choosing us. Think about that. Out of everyone in the world throughout all of history, God knows you enough to choose you. That’s a pretty massive thing if you think about it.

Just like out of all the kids in the system that one you took home is super special, so are you! Now before we realized that we were chosen we kind of just went through the motions. We didn’t know what it meant to be part of this new family. Sure we had the name but we really didn’t like the rules and all the boundaries set up for us. We thought we’d be better off living free from all of these ridiculous rules!

But what if the rules and the boundaries and the name actually were there for a better purpose than just managing our bad behavior? What if that person who chose us, set up those boundaries because they knew something we didn’t know? What if all of those things we thought were overbearing rules were actually setting up a system for us to thrive in life?

Just like an adoptive parent sets boundaries and rules for the children they welcome into their home, so also God sets up boundaries for us as his children. But one day the goal is that we’ll see that all these rules were actually there to create the best environment for us to be able to succeed and thrive in life.

Instead of bucking the system and running from the rules, maybe…just maybe…we can take a minute and try to see what good these rules are meant to bring us.