Children of the King

 

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In  love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.  Ephesians 1:4-5

 Several years ago my husband’s company painted a house for a woman who told him a very interesting story. While he was inspecting the house with her, making sure she was satisfied with the work, she told him about her son. Her son is a professional golfer who had been in England for a tournament. One evening he went to a pub. He was playing pool when another young man asked to join him. The young man introduced himself as Will and said that he was in the military. As the story goes the two played several games, talked about their girlfriends, their jobs, typical small talk. It wasn’t until much later in the evening when other friends joined them that our American golfer  learned the identity of his new English friend, Will, was actually Prince William.

When my husband told me the story my first thought was that his client’s son obviously didn’t have a sister. My sons would know Prince William but only because of their sisters crush, not to due to any international savvy. Then I thought how nice for William to be able to be just “Will” for an evening and I wondered how often that happens for him.

This morning reading about Jesus’ being his Father’s Beloved son and how because of that we can be called beloved, I was reminded of that story. Here are some details the golfer’s mother told my husband. Her son said that Will was very polite and carried himself with dignity that the golfer assumed came from being British and being military. Once he knew the other man’s identity our golfer was impressed with how unassuming Will was and how genuinely friendly. Apparently they shared some girlfriend issues and had chatted about that for quite awhile.
Today I thought about that in terms of how I carry myself as my Abba’s beloved daughter. I would like for people to say of me, that I was genuine, unassuming, pleasant and then attribute it to the deep security and warmth that comes from being the dearly loved daughter of the King.

Will did not flaunt his status. He hid it, not out of embarrassment but out of a desire to be accepted as a regular guy. I do not want to hide my status but neither do I want to flaunt it. I want it to be simply obvious. If I am truly the beloved child of God then it should show in my confidence, peace and joy. It should be obvious as Will’s breeding and manners were obvious to the golfer and it should be very attractive.

St. Francis said, “Speak the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Some people disagree with that because they feel that we should always be proclaiming Jesus. I think that is exactly what St. Francis meant. Open the conversation with your demeanor and attitude. Words are important. We have to put our mouths where our faith is but first we have to demonstrate the veracity and sincerity of those words, attract people with the grace that flows to and through us.

Additionally there is the personal benefit of living in that grace, confident of our place in the next world we can walk through this one, secure, joyful and always humble. We are royalty in a way that earthly royalty merely imitates. We are sons and daughters not of a king but of the King.