Sabbath Devotional: I Am a Child of God
Updated: 2 days ago
I recently reread a General Conference address by Elder Brik V. Eyre and was struck by this statement: “While our Heavenly Father consistently and lovingly reminds us that we are His children, the adversary will always try to label us by our weaknesses.”
It reminded me of my own college commencement experience. I graduated from BYU in the late 1990s and the commencement speaker was a distinguished and accomplished journalist and author. According to my memory, his address was a humorous description of easy jobs that recent graduates could get — ones that would require very little effort because we were known as a lazy generation. After he finished, President Thomas S. Monson stood to speak. The whole feeling in the room changed.
Later, my sister helped me put into words what had happened and why the first speaker’s jokes didn’t land for many of us. BYU students had spent several years immersed in the knowledge that we had divine worth and divine potential, that we were a chosen generation, and that we could accomplish great things — indeed, we were foreordained to. The commencement speaker jokingly told us the opposite. President Monson’s message was centered on one truth: You are each a child of God.
The very first lesson in the Primary nursery manual is titled “I Am a Child of God.” Although this seemingly simple doctrine is among the very first things we teach and sing to our children, as adults, we still need to be reminded regularly who we really are.
Susan H. Porter, Primary General President, taught: “When you know and understand how completely you are loved as a child of God, it changes everything. It changes the way you feel about yourself when you make mistakes. It changes how you feel when difficult things happen. It changes your view of God’s commandments. It changes your view of others and of your capacity to make a difference.”
Knowing I am a daughter of Heavenly Parents is really core to my identity. Although it’s something I’ve always believed, it was when I was on my mission that what that actually means really sunk deep into my heart. As Sister Porter said, knowing this changes everything.
It especially changes my view of others. Elder Eyre tells us that the adversary will label us by our weaknesses. It is so easy for me to also label people by what I perceive as their weakness. But that is not fair. People are complicated. As Bryan Stevenson so perfectly said, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.” And Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”
I have found that God is always ready and willing to let me recognize the divinity within other people if I ask for His help. Deliberately looking for strengths in others has blessed my life and lessened the burden of a limited view — and it is a burden. The gentle reminders from God that we are His children and that “they” are His children is empowering and liberating.
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Image: © Giles Laurent, gileslaurent.com, License CC BY-SA, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Megan Rawlins Woods is the nonpartisan root senior director at Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
