In Imitation of the Father

My three-year-old grabs a wooden block, holds it up to his ear, and says, “Hello, this is Gracie!” Then peaks shyly at me and grins. “It’s my phone.”

He finds a marker and holds it up to different joints in the furniture. “This is a screwdriver. I’m fixing things like Daddy.”

He slings a grocery bag over his shoulder. “My purse is packed and ready to go!”

At the dinner table, he glances maturely at my husband and asks, “When are we heading to your parents’ house?”

My son mimics like crazy. He models everything we say and do. It’s very cool and hilarious, but also enlightening and eye-opening. Trust me, I have had to monitor my words and actions like never before. Yet, the fact that he wants to be like me is deeply endearing.

Imitation: The Highest Form of Flattery

For many of us, imitation is a natural part of growing up. We admire and esteem certain people and naturally begin to model our behavior after them. We want to be like those who are ahead of us in one way or another. While role models change as a child grows and matures, for most kids in a healthy familial environment, they often begin with Mom and Dad.

“I want to be just like Daddy when I grow up!”

Because they are so tuned into us, our children quickly pick up and mimic our phrases, actions, quirks, and one-liners, sometimes to our great embarrassment. But it’s because they admire us, love us, and adore us, that they naturally want to be like us too.

Learning From Children

We can learn so much about ourselves, particularly about our spiritual lives, by observing the behavior of children. Recently, I have pondered: What would it look like if I adopted this same mimicking behavior? What if I started imitating my Heavenly Father? What would I start to say? What would I start to do?

The Bible describes God the Father in many ways. If I began to imitate Him more, perhaps my life would reflect more of Who He is. I would be just, forgiving, and merciful. I would be slow to anger and faithful to keeping my promises. I would speak life and truth. I would be creative. I would be compassionate, understanding, attentive, and gentle. I would seek out the lost and the lonely. I would relentlessly pursue reconciliation and relationship. I would be selfless and self-sacrificial.

Ultimately, I would be love.

And isn’t that the goal? The greatest commandment is to love. And in that pursuit of holiness, who better to model than Love Himself?

Let Mimicry Change You

If I began this mimicry, what else would change in my life? What would I stop saying? What would I stop doing? What behavior, habits, and defaults would slowly fade away?

Perhaps another good question to ponder is, Who am I currently imitating?

Even sub-consciously, we all experience times when we replace God with other people or images. We all have idols that have molded our own behavior, words, actions, and desires to be less like our Heavenly Father. But in the end, they are not worthy of our praise, attention, time, energy, and especially our mimicry.

As I watch my toddler, I am challenged to become someone worth mimicking. I want what he picks up from me to be good and virtuous, and it pains me when I see him misbehave in a way that I know he’s adopted from me.

But we do not need to fear when it comes to our own relationship with God. We are called to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect (see Matthew 5:48). We are called to lay down our lives like the Son. We are called to spread love like the Holy Spirit.

Let’s embrace our own “toddlerhood” with a spirit of mimicry. Let us strive to live in imitation of the Father.

Gracie Muraski splits her time between Ohio and Colorado with her husband and sons. She is passionate about reading, writing, long-distance running, and intentional conversation.