What a beautiful word. Godchild is primarily a term given to an individual, a young child, whose spiritual life we agree to take responsibility for (and sometimes to become legal guardian of in case of parents’ death). The term suggests a reminder that this individual is God’s child whose spiritual as well as physical being is unique and special.
What about our own inner godchild? That’s the part of us that God wants us to find and watch over.
God imprinted us at our beginning with his image—indelibly. Frederick Buechner reminds us that we have “the mark of God’s thumb” on us. The world has covered it with debris of all sorts. But the imprint never dissolves or disappears. Just as all mammal infants experience the imprimatur of bonding, our souls are permanently bonded with God.
Our task is to let God destroy the debris, the detritus of our lives, so that what is in our holy place can come forward—so our godchild can emerge and become the motivating force of our new lives, become the all-pervasive essential characteristic in our personality.
What a perfect time Christmas is to ponder our own holiness.
Ann Glover O’Dell
June 2018
Ann Glover O'Dell 