"You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15) One of the first things I can remember learning about Aramaic, when I became interested enough in the Bible to wonder about some of those strange words that Jesus periodically used, was that "Abba" meant, sort of, "daddy." It was an affectionate and intimate term that Jesus used to refer to God. It pointed out the special relationship between, in trinitarian terms, the Father and the Son. At the same time, Paul, in this verse from Romans, tells us that we too have the chance to cry out "Abba, Father" - to enjoy and to express joyfully our own special, affectionate and intimate relationship with our God. Paul basically says that we have a choice. We can live in fear, with a spirit of slavery - slavery to this world and its ways, subject to the principalities and powers that swirl about, trying to draw us ever farther away from God - or, we can choose the spirit of adoption, being constantly reminded and assured that we are God's, loved by God with a depth and a passion that is hard for us even to imagine. The beautiful thing is that anyone can have that relationship of intimacy with God. No one is cut off, or rejected. We don't even really have to approach God, because God is already with us. We just have to set aside the fears that hold us back and that hold us captive and that sap the energy and joy out of life. I hope we'll all find ourselves crying "Abba, Father" over the next few days. Have a great week!