Thinking about three things of relative importance.

.Humanity.
I know I write on this a lot, but it's relevance to who I am and Who God Is to me, or to the rest of humanity is so critical that I cannot help but want to think about it.
In our humanity, in the realization of how small we are and how inconsequential we ought to be, there is hidden a treasure of gratefulness. I say it is a treasure because when we have been given a gift, it's very existence is only counted precious by the thanks that we give to the Giver. To be given an anonymous gift is special, but it's memory lasts only ringing an echo from the giver - we remember it for the anonymity, not the gift. But to be given something in full realization of who gives it and what it means to them is so much bigger to the entire process.

.Authority.
Freedom in authority. We cannot know freedom in authority until we know our humanity. We cannot realize the importance of leadership until we see the frailty of lack. We cannot long to be under authority until we have known the fright of insecurity in aloneness. Whether a child in his toddler years losing sight of his mother for one moment in the grocery store, or whether an adult waking one morning to find that he has been aimlessly walking for the past twenty years toward nothing but his shadow. Lack of authority, lack of proper understanding of what it means to the Christian life only ends in the destruction of God given structures that hold and form the standards of living. Parental, pastoral, governmental - their necessity to growth comes solely from knowing the freedom they present.

.Sonship.
This is the thought that settles the previous two more firmly in my mind. A realization of my humanity shows nothing but that I am human. This is depressing. To only realize I am human is to limit myself and what I am purposed for. To convince myself daily that I cannot or will not do better or be more than what I am created for is to stunt growth and ultimately reject a standard of perfection.
Likewise, authority without finding freedom in it only sets another set of rules before our eyes. Legalism reigns and eventually we only find ourselves doing and never knowing why or for what purpose we do it. We begin to do because it is expected and never because we desire it.
Yet, knowing who we are as sons and joint heirs presents us with a choice: Reject our humanity, and by default rejecting the freedom in authority. Living lives dominated by legalistic rule sheets and having a never-ending 'to do' list in order to find acceptance. Or, embrace our humanity and inability to be our own authority structure, find freedom in the knowledge that God will always know our humanity more than we will and so therefore can probably direct our steps more efficiently and with more character refining paths then we'd ever take on our own, and s u b m i t .