My son sketched this last Sunday while riding in the back of our mini-van.
My son presented me with this drawing on Mother’s Day, right before we arrived at my parents’ house. He’s twelve years old and has never had an art lesson. We don’t have a dog like this one. He just created it. His daddy draws and paints and his sister can draw too. My sister can draw and paint. I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler. Seriously, their talent amazes me.
My son can also sit at the piano and bang out a tune he has heard in band. He plays the drums and has never had a piano lesson. At Christmas, I heard him tapping out “Joy to the World.” I have an uncle on my daddy’s side, who plays guitar and harmonica by ear. I have a great-aunt on my mama’s side who recently told my mom that her daddy could play piano by ear.
My son has a similar gift to his great-granddaddy. Isn’t that amazing? There are some things that seem to be genetically wired into our DNA. They are sometimes really cool things like artistic talent that we can nurture. They are sometimes bad things like cancer and alcoholism that we have to really watch out for.
Everyone’s DNA is unique to them. So everyone’s talents and weaknesses are unique to them as well. God made us that way.
We are all wired for worship. The desire to worship is in the DNA of every single human on the planet. How we worship may look very different from our friends or neighbors which makes sense. Some people would definitely prefer quiet and meditative worship over energetic praise worship. By the same token, some people are completely at home worshiping with a thousand other people, while others would be too overwhelmed for words in a huge crowd like that.
Although our worship naturally varies from person to person, our desire to worship is innate. Our children will worship everything from their friends, to their sport of choice, to their GPA if we aren’t very careful to guide them down the right path. Self-worship is another huge issue these days with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the ever-present, “selfie shot.”
As adults, we sometimes need to take a selfie of our own from time to time, a self- inventory. We know who we are supposed to worship, but who are we worshiping? Can our children tell, by the example we are setting? If they were to be quizzed about it, what would they say? Keep in mind, kids are usually brutally honest.
The first two commandments of the ten are: 1)You must not have any other God but me. and 2)You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind. I’m guessing since those two made the top of the top ten, they are important to God, and therefore should be important to us.
God knows our nature. He knows we are wired to worship because He wired us. It’s in our DNA. I think the first two commandments are there to remind us to take notice and watch ourselves and our choices. We have been given free will. The commandments remind us to choose wisely.
It’s always good to take a moment to reflect on where we are and where we are going, just to be sure we are on the path we want to be on. If we’re not, maybe it’s time to change course. God will be happy to meet us along the way.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂
2 Responses to It’s in Your DNA