Marmalade

My dad loved orange marmalade. As a kid, I hated it. To me, it was bitter. It has orange peel in it!  Who eats that? Completely inedible, I thought. Now, I love the stuff. So much so that as I went to a local cafe to study recently, I put some marmalade in a small jar and slipped it in my bag. You see, the cafe doesn’t have marmalade, or any jam for that matter. So, I brought my own. As I sat there and took the top bun off my breakfast sandwich, getting ready to pile on the marmalade, I laughed at myself. This is something my mother did. She would take the top off of her Egg McMuffin and eat it separately so she could put jam on it. Now, here I am doing that! What a mom move, I thought. Wow, when did this happen? I’m morphing into my parents! That’s not a bad thing at all. They were awesome. But when did that happen exactly? When I turned 50? 60? When my hair turned gray?  Or, was it when I took up crochet?  Hmmm….

I don’t know, but it certainly got me thinking.  As I am slowly morphing into my parents (their habits and characteristics), am I slowly morphing into Jesus (His characteristics)? As a follower of Jesus, I know I should be. He is my Heavenly Father. So, a little self examination: Do I love things now that I used to dislike when I was young in the faith? (like Bible study) Do I dislike things now that I used to like when I was young in the faith?  Yes, case in point:  Have you ever told your kids (or a friend) to watch a certain movie you used to watch? You told them, “Yeah, you should watch it, it’s a really good movie”! Only to be horrified and embarrassed watching it alongside them because you forgot all the “stuff” that was in that movie.  That’s happened to me more than once. How could I have watched that stuff, and liked it? I thought. Note to self: no more recommendations.

I suppose becoming like my marmalade-loving parents has taken my whole life up to this point. And I didn’t even realize it was happening. Likewise, becoming like Jesus takes a lifetime as well. It happens slowly, over time, as the Holy Spirit transforms us from the inside out (if we will let Him). Still, there are times that I will say or do something that reveals to me how unlike Christ I really am, and I am ashamed.  I realize I’ve got so far to go! Thankfully, He’s not done with me yet. I’m a work in progress and so are you. Take heart, we’ll get there…someday. I take comfort in knowing:

“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is.” 

1 John 3:2 NLT

I can’t wait for that Day!