⁵⁷ When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹ When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. ⁶⁰ But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”

⁶¹ “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” ⁶² So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. ⁶³ He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” ⁶⁴ Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.

⁶⁵ Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.

Luke 1:57-66

Dear God, the question in verse 66: “What will this child turn out to be?” How long did it follow John? How old was he before people stopped asking it? Or did they never stop and it followed him for the next 30 years until he started doing his thing at the Jordan? I wonder what John was like as a child. I wonder how old he was when his parents died.

But I guess we all look at our children and wonder what they will turn out to be. Of course, we don’t even know what we ourselves will turn out to be. I’m 55, and I don’t even know what I’ll be at 56. I don’t know what the rest of even today hold. I don’t even know what I’ll do for lunch.

But I think with our children we often make the mistake of overlaying our expectations on them (and maybe even their parents). I remember when our daughter was picking her major in college and I saw something different for her. Of course she did what her heart felt led to do.

Father, I confess that I have greatly sinned. In my thoughts and in my words. In what I have done and what I have failed to do. through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I ask blessed Mary, all the angels and the saints, and for my brothers and sisters to pray for me to you. And please give my children they grace the need to have to live out everything you have for them whether it includes me or not.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen