So I have been reading this book

and it quotes Gary Smalley as suggesting that you ask kids stuff to better see what God has put inside them for His divine plans.

I'm all up for that.  As most moms (I think) sometimes I look at these little people God has gifted me with and wonder, "Who are you?" and how do I communicate my love and God's love uniquely to you?

One of the questions he recommended is "If you could be any character from the Bible, who would you be?"
So I asked my 2 boys as we drove along the other night.

As Kaden pondered this silently in the back (I've never thot of that, why is Mom asking me that, who would I want to be, why would I want to be that person, what if I think of more than one person, what if I only want to be a certain part of a person...) I waited - I always expect him to think for a while before answering.
But before I had even finished the question my Carson had an immediate answer: 'I'll be God."
As I've thot many times - Could 2 kids possibly be any different?

But I don't have a preference of what answer I liked better.  In fact each response made me giggle a bit because they were SO VERY typical of my youngest two boys.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.
This situation reminded me of a phrase from The Shack, where Heavenly Father looks at one of His children, a twinkle comes into His eye, and He says, "I'm so very fond of her."  and then He looks at another of His children and His expression softens and He says, "I'm particularly fond of him."

I'm a mother, not a father, but this aspect of the Father's heart I really do understand - that each individual child brings me such pleasure just by being so incredibly themselves.   In fact, I would not have had nearly the pleasure from hearing one of my sons try to tell me which character he thought I would want him to be - of that his friends thought was great. 

I'm also reading

and Liebscher tells of the pressure to preach well, to perform well.  Before a particular large youth service, God asked him "Banning, you have a choice.  You can either choose to be a preacher or a son.  If you choose to be a pracher, you will be good sometimes and other times you won't be that good.  But if you choose to be a son, you will always be good because you are a fantastic son."  So his motive for preaching changed.  He pursued being a son - pursued intimacy with Father, and preached out of that relationship.

A girlfriend recently told me she was learning how to "just be." 
Another girlfriend wrote about her home in a book that she's had published, "it is a place where no one has to 'try' to be a Christian.  They just are."

On the heels of Kevin Costner's remarks at Whitney Houston's funeral, these words seem profound.  While this beautiful, talented woman continually wondered, "am I good enough?", we are given this incredibly free request from Father:  Just Be.  Just be my daughter.  Just be my son.  All these other things - all the requirements of the law have already been fulfilled by Jesus Christ. 
Learning how to just be a son/daughter of God will bring us in to alignment with His purposes and plans.  As this intimacy increases, so will my discerning of His heart and His will. 

I love that my boys didn't try to give me a desired answer that evening.  They just were.  They just spoke out of who they are.  And it gave me such pleasure.