Happy Mother’s Day Rachel … and adopting Mums (& Moms) everywhere!

Why is it that we or you sought to become a parent? - expectations of grandparents? - some belief or conviction of vocation? - instinctive drive to procreate or perpetuate your kind? - it just happened and now you have to live with it?

Or was it with an understanding that as people created in the image of God you sought to give your love, yourself, into the formation of another through becoming a parent.

How did you prepare yourself for the task to ensure a measure of success? Or are you “winging it” in the unfounded hope that everything will work out OK and even if it doesn’t then you’re off the hook because after all, kids have their own minds and choose their own paths?!

Read: 1 Samuel 1 – why would God allow Hannah to crave to the point of extreme anxiety to have a child and not give her the means to conceive? Ultimately a miracle occurred and she did – but note her response – she did not consider herself to be in a position of privilege or that she was now a great benefactor to the child, rather that she was given even greater burden of responsibility as caring for someone who belonged to God. This practice examples the modern practice of baby dedication, where Christian parents covenant with God to raise that child by His grace in His knowledge.

For us, our desire to become parents, led us to a decision to form our family by adoption. Lily, upon legal completion of the Order of Adoption in a few days time will become our heir and with that she receives the full privileges and inheritance of being our child. She will receive our family name, she will depend upon us, be loved by us and as she grows will also develop personality and behaviour traits as learned from us.

This is similar to the NT doctrine of Adoption. The use of the term in relation to believers means “to take and place as an heir”. In Roman culture, it literally means to put in equal position as the son. When Augustus Caesar adopted Tiberius, Tiberius became his heir and inherited his kingdom. Tiberius, better known as the Emperor Nero and his position and privilege would have likely been in Paul’s mind when writing that we are not merely welcomed into the family, but given the leading and most privileged position in that family – i.e. joint heirs with God’s only begotten Son.

The similarities between our spiritual adoption and our adoption of Lily differ a little though. While our spiritual adoption is borne out of the benevolence and grace of God in his love for us, our adoption of Lily, we admit was, in part, driven by our desire to become parents. It is we who are the ones receiving the honour and privilege.

On our first Mothers Day, we pause to thank God for the honour of being parents, for the answer to a 15 year old prayer, for a beautiful little girl and for the heart of a birth mother, whose circumstances will never be known to us, chose, in love for her child, to carry the child to term and give her life so that she might, through God’s providence be brought into our family.

Isa 54:1 “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! …
Isa 54:13 All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.

Happy Mother’s Day Rachel!