By Peter Hallett
Published January 15, 1997
The Macquarie Dictionary has an amazingly complex definition for the seemingly innocent word "becoming".
It starts with "any process of change" which is simple enough and then moves on to "any change involving realisation of potentialities, as a movement from the lower level of potentiality to the higher level of actuality."
Very Aristotelian indeed... But as a new year lays clean before us, it is timely for us all to consider our becoming.
Life is a process of change - it is only when we are lulled into a false sense of sameness that we are taken by surprise.
A greeting card I noticed the other day summed it up nicely: "There comes a moment after you turn 30 when everything makes sense" the front of the card read. "Then it goes again" was the rejoinder inside. Having turned 30 a few years ago I know what it is talking about.
So where will the process of change called life take you this year and can there be anything unchanging on which to hang the proverbial hat? Will your becoming be positive or negative? Will it involve others or be totally self-centred? Do you have any idea of how to steer your "becoming" in the right direction? And what is the right direction anyhow?
There is a simple verse in the gospel of John that says something like: "To all who receive Jesus and believe in him, he gives the right and power to become God’s children."
This tells us that God’s plan for our "becoming" is that it would make us more and more his children.
I have learned to understand what being God’s child is through being a father to my own children.
My children are dearly loved, cared for, fed, clothed, nurtured, taught, disciplined, delighted in, protected, belong, have a home, grow and develop, have the freedom to call for help anytime, make mistakes, sometimes act foolishly, are easily forgiven.
That this list would characterise my relationship with an almighty, all-knowing creator God is an amazing thing, amazing grace.
How do I direct my "becoming" to embrace these positive and wonderful things? As the verse quoted above says - my part is to receive him (let him into my heart) and believe in him (let him into my mind). God’s part is to give me the legal and moral right (undeserved as it may be) to call him father and the marked strength and ability (lacking in me otherwise) to live out a new, freer, more complete "becoming". Look honestly. Are you facing a year of becoming more cycnical, more alone, more hardened, more depressed, more apathetic, more selfish, more confused? If so I recommend God’s sort of becoming. It’s a process of change that you will never regret.
Thanks to The Chronicle for having me back this year. I hope to provide a voice for the Christian community in Canberra but also a word of kind advice for any who may care to read. Faith to Faith has a range of Fact Sheets that provide useful counsel on a variety of life-issues such a grief, marriage, raising children, stress, prayer, heavenly perspective and more. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Faith to Faith, The Chronicle, PO Box 7155 Canberra Mail Centre, 2610 if you would like one or simply write with your questions or concerns.
WISDOM’S WAY: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12