Adoptinated

A long time ago, I had some friends who had a couple of cute kids. I worked with him and got to know him and his family quite well. He and his wife kept trying to have children and it just never happened for them, so they finally decided to adopt. They adopted a baby girl first and later a boy. They decided right away that they would tell the kids they were adopted as soon as they were old enough to understand rather than not tell them and have them find out when they were much older. He told me they explained to the kids that their natural parents loved them but, for some reason, weren’t able to keep them and care for them, so they asked this couple to be the mommy and daddy. They said they explained to the kids that they loved them and the best days were when each of them came to live there.

One day when I was over at their house visiting them, the little girl came rushing up to me and very excitedly told me, “I’m adoptinated!” Thanks to the wisdom of my friends, she knew her history and that she was special and had received a very special gift: she was picked out by her parents to be a part of their family, just as was her younger brother.

Adoptinated. What a great word, even if it was born in the mind of a small girl! She heard that story many times down through the years and she said she can’t wait to tell the children she will have some day.

We all know about adoption and most of us know at least one person who was adopted. We hear about people who were born elsewhere and when they become citizens of this country, they bragged about their adopted country. Adoptions are done out of love, whether for a child or a country. It takes a heart full of love to go through all that it takes to adopt.

I said above that we all know someone who was adopted. Taking that one step further, we are all adopted. Every last one of us is adopted, not by parents, but by God. He so loved us that He made sure we were created in His spiritual image and likeness. We were all born to our natural parents, but when we were baptized and accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we were officially adopted. We are all heirs of the Kingdom. Just as we will someday inherit those things that our natural or adoptive parents leave to us, so too do we have our inheritance from God. We have the gift of eternal life with Him in Heaven.

We are all God’s children. We have the most precious of inheritances and gifts, the limitless love of God. As God’s children, all of us are brother and sister to each other. We are all family, the family of the Most High God! We are all the beloved son or daughter of God and He is well pleased in us. Rejoice and be glad in your adoptination!