The sun is rising, birds are chirping and the house is filled with the noise of several children getting ready for school. At the large family dining table sits a seven year old, buzzed hair and crisp uniform, dutifully eating his breakfast cereal. Soon the bus will be at the top of the driveway and he's eaten all his flakes. Suddenly there are heavy footsteps behind him and a heavy hand on the back of his head forcing his face into the leftover milk. The young boy looks up at his father coughing, milk dripping from his face. "If you want to make noise like an animal then you can eat like an animal. We don't slurp our food in this house. It's bad manners."
Most of you probably think I'm sharing the story of a boy I've just met here in Thailand, but this is a story from my father's childhood. I heard him tell this story while drinking and reminiscing with a cousin several years ago. That night my heart broke into pieces for my father. I knew that my childhood had some nasty moments in it, but never anything like this. I knew my father was an alcoholic like his parents had been, but he'd never been so cruel to any of us. I began to see how this disease simply traveled from one generation to the next.
Generational sin grabs hold of people from the core of our being. It's written on to our DNA. Sin of this kind looks like normalcy to the point that we who live in it can't even see that's its sin. It takes over from the very beginning.
The good news is that what one man created, another man took away. Jesus was sacrificed on the cross to cover the sin that Adam passed down through the generations. We all are born with this inherent sin of Adam, to disobey God. However, some are able to conquer it sooner than others, while some never seem to conquer the human nature to live sinfully.
This trip has taught me not to compare journeys with others. Each of us will come to different places at different times. This month I came to understand what it means to forgive my father. It was in this forgiveness that I was also able to see my true identity as a daughter of our Heavenly Father. I was able to see my earthly dad as God sees him; a man who is holy, righteous and divinely loved. It took me seeing myself in this light to see him in this light. So I encourage you reader to ask God to show you how He sees you if there is someone in your life that you need to forgive.
