I longed for a child. To the point where I would stop working to watch the pre-school boys and girls walk down the hallway outside my office … every single day. Having my nieces spend the night with me was a thrill, and I was overjoyed when both nieces and all three nephews came to visit … at the same time.
That longing for a child of my own grew deeper as I grew older. As a single woman of forty, I explored my options and chose to adopt. I filled out the paperwork and waited more than a year. Finally, they placed three-month old Jesse in my arms. We celebrated adoption day exactly one year later.
Two months before the adoption, I began dating Ed. Watching Ed interact with Jesse was a delight. I chuckle even now thinking of the two of them walking along, Ed reaching down from his six-foot-three frame and taking Jesse’s small, outstretched hand. I would look up on many occasions and see Ed on the floor next to Jesse, building train track or moving the trains around. They were bound together in love and loved being together.
When Ed and I married, Jesse immediately began calling him Daddy.
Jesse is a teenager now. He has always considered Ed his father. Ed has always treated him as his son. But no legal covenant bound them together, until recently.
On a cold, rainy April day (2017), the three of us sat before the judge in a small, Connecticut courtroom, with family and dear friends gathered by. The judge mentioned right away his delight in presiding over the adoption of an older child. Why? Because it’s a choice for both parties. When I adopted Jesse as an infant, he didn’t have any say in it. On the other hand, at sixteen years old, Jesse chose Ed as much as Ed chose Jesse.
There is another relationship, shaped by love and assured by covenant. Daddy God (my affectionate name for God, the Father) loves us as his own children. He longs for us to be in relationship with him. He longs to be with us and teach us. He longs for us to spend time with him because we want to, not because we feel like we have to.
God longs for us to be in a covenant relationship with him. He goes to great lengths to get our attention and, even when we reject him and walk away, he still pursues us. He’s never pushy or forceful, always loving, compassionate, and patient.
God wants to adopt us into his family. Ephesians, Chapter One (New Living Translation) says, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Among the guests present at our recent adoption were our pastor and his wife. Following the brief, simple proceeding, Pastor Scott said a few words:
“There’s nothing so close to God’s heart as adoption. When we are born into this world we are born into a family where we really don’t have a choice. The scripture tells us we need to be born again and by choice we are born into the family of God. We choose to be born into the family of God–that’s when God adopts us. And so what we see here today and what touches my heart is a father-son relationship–formally, legally decreed.” (Emphasis mine.)
Pastor Scott added these words before closing in prayer: “I see God and me sitting in the place where Ed and Jesse are now. And though I don’t deserve it, I become part of God ‘s family, first by His choice and then by mine. How beautiful is that.”
We’ve just celebrated Resurrection Sunday, also known as Easter Sunday, remembering how much God loves us and what he has done for us. John 3:16, in the NLT, says, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
He loves us—YOU AND ME—like no one else does. He longs for a relationship with us–a relationship that we want, not one we are forced into. He’s patient, but there’s no time like the present. He’s longing to adopt each of us into his forever family.