While pondering on how to bond a little better with my youngest grandchildren 10 hours away (a 5-year-old and 9-month-old) I began to think about what children are like. Though it has been a while since I had little ones around, children are basically all the same. A 5-year-old is usually ready to have fun. They are full of life and energy with the attention span of maybe 5 minutes. They enjoy being the center of attention and crave lots of love. This tells me if I make a little video of me reading a book, it needs to be very short and my video needs to have action, excitement, and needs to be full of love. My 9-month-old, though just beginning to crawl, is ready to explore, she learns by watching and observing others, and then imitates as best as she can. My goal there will be to use hand motions of clapping, pointing, times of singing, and repetition of saying my name. If I do these things consistently, and they do the same, then when I go to visit, we will just continue where we left off.
Just as the little ones learn by watching, observing, and then imitating, we too must do the same with Jesus. (Ephesians 5:1-2) says “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.”
How do we do this you might ask. Do you remember the game “follow the leader?” The leader moves around by running, walking, zigzagging, going in every direction and you, as the follower, must follow by watching closely, listening to direction, and observing every step, and then, do the same.
If we are to imitate Christ, living a life filled with love, we must get to know Him better just as I want my grandchildren to get to know me. It must be consistent. It’s a following like we read in Luke 9: 23 “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
We too must come daily watching, listening, and observing by communing with Jesus through His Word and then doing what Jesus would do. If I want my grandchildren to get to know me, I must be consistent. I must continue the videos, some calls, and some FaceTime to bond. It is in the doing.
You will never learn to imitate Christ if you follow Him by just popping into a church service on Sunday or saying help me God only when in need. It must be a life filled with imitating daily. The only way to imitate is to watch, listen, and then do what He does which comes through fellowship, through hearing His voice from His Word, the Bible.
Then you will learn to be like Christ having a life full of love for Him and for others. He forgave us by becoming a sacrifice for us which was a pleasing aroma to His father. Watching Him we learn to forgive too those who wronged us. Luke 11:4 says, “and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” He forgave so we forgive. That is learning to live the life of Love!
Jesus’ love was a life of sacrifice even to the place of death, a pleasing aroma to God. May we too imitate Him by taking up our cross following daily, and just like when I get to see my grandchildren when I arrive, when we see Jesus, we will take up where we left off. Now that’s a beautiful aroma.  Deann Dolan