Virginia
Technology is cool. (Is “cool” still a cool word?) I got an email today from a genealogy website letting me know that today was the birthday of one of my great-great-great-grandmothers.
Virginia was born in 1884, a little before my time, so I never knew her or even her son, who was my great-great-grandfather. I barely remember her grandson, one of my great-grandfathers. Yet, in a matter of a couple of minutes today, I found out that she was born in Mobile, Alabama, married at 18, had nine children, and died in 1940. This site also let me know where she is buried and connected me to census records tracking where she lived over many years. With a click, I found her parents and their information, too.
But I still don’t know Virginia. Was she a good cook? Did she like to sing? Was she a praying woman? Was she grouchy all the time? Did she like to read? Could she read?
It is nice to know particulars about her. I am glad I do, but just knowing the surface information doesn’t mean we have a connection with each other. I know some of her statistics, her trivia, but that’s all I have. Unfortunately, that is all many of us have of God. We know details about Him. We know some of His stories and sing some songs, but do we know Him enough to have a genuine connection?
I have been in the place before where I knew a lot of trivia, but not much about the personality of God. It is something I think we all need to bring up to ourselves now and then. We need to do a relationship check and make sure that we are not just seeing God as a distant member of our genealogy. Let’s take time to know Him and to learn more about him.
If you haven’t had a conversation with Him in a while, take a few minutes to do that. Sometimes I even ask silly questions like, “How are you today?” “What’s on your heart?” And you know, sometimes I get answers. He shows me something that is breaking His heart, so I pray. Or, He shows me someone’s face, and I reach out. Grab onto your relationship with your Heavenly Father. You are part of his lineage, and He wants to know you beyond your trivia, too.
I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
2 Corinthians 6:18
