While we were in Indonesia, our host had 4 daughters. His middle daughters, Naomi (4) and Austin (7), have a fierce love for each other, equalled only by their nearly-as-fierce rivalry. It was quite clear that these sisters were constantly jostling for their position in this world. With a newly adopted sister being added to the family as well as a newborn baby, both of them likely had days where they may have felt overlooked.
In these moments, you could see an internal and external battle between the two for attention, approval, and ultimately love. When one was feeling invisible and it seemed like the other was getting all the “love”, it was hard for the other not to feel jealous and act out on it. One day, tears were shed when Naomi walked in on Austin playing with and holding a baby instead of her. There were other times when one sister would copy the other when she saw that what her sister was doing was successfully getting attention.
Like all of us, both of these girls wanted to feel special & unique, to feel loved.
How often do we as (adult) humans jostle for the attention of our family, our friends, our social media followers, even our God? We were created to love and to be loved; we were created to be original. Sometimes we can lose sight of how God uniquely created each one of us when we become intensely consumed with trying to earn acceptance. We might even start looking around at what’s “working” for others – try copying their lifestyle – in order to earn that acceptance, attention, or love.
One day, we were at the beach with these girls and Austin wrote a message in the sand for us that simply said “I Love You”. In a sweet – and picturesque – moment, Naomi picked up a stick and copied her. She intently studied the letters that Austin had written in order to duplicate her sister’s message to us.
This moment provided some neat imagery and made me consider how sometimes in life, it’s okay to copy others. Love is something that is worth copying. Love transcends cultures, languages & generations; it is universal. In the same way, I was reminded of our mission as believers to be Imitators of Jesus. While on the race, we have been reading through Paul’s Epistles and he frequently references in his letters to the early church how he has a deep desire for them to copy him as he copies Jesus.
I hate being copied. I want to be unique, different & original. Because of this, I am very convicted by this theology. My life should be spent imitating Jesus – and if I am doing that well, I should hope that some people might start copying me. That’s discipleship after all, right?
My challenge today is that we follow in the footsteps of our little, 7-year old, Indonesian apostle Austin and live a life worth copying. That we write “I Love You” with our actions everywhere we go. That we do it – not out of insecurity & the thirst to be loved & accepted – but because we know and believe we are already so deeply loved and accepted by our Creator.
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“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us.”
Ephesians 5:1-2
