It doesn’t matter where you’re from, it matters who you are.

Eating a French breakfast in our resort is one of life’s real pleasures. The fresh coffee, the crumbling croissant eagerly anticipated by our dog suggled into our feet and the freshly squeezed orange juice are framed by majestic mountains full of snow and the early morning rays of sun loosening the grip of the night’s freeze. 

Although we see it as quintessentially French, it is, of course, nothing of the sort. The croissant originated from either Austria or Romania or Turkey depending who’s telling you, coffee and oranges from southern China and south east Asia. It is anything but a French invention but when your lips take the first draught of a freshly ground coffee as you gaze on the sun filled panorama does it really matter? Do you care? do you think, ‘right I’m going to tear the owner off a strip and tell him that none of his breakfast is really French.’ No, you’ll just soak up the sun and sip into the fresh coffee. 

Why do we worry so much about where we come from? 

There is a hunger for an identity that makes people search for their past, to try to explain who they are and there pace in the world. I took one of those DNA tests, partly out of curiosity and partly to settle a family argument. It seems I’m made up of at of least six constituent parts -a thouroughbred mongrel of a human. I may even be a distant descendant of people who started wars in the viking era.  

Does that explain how I treat my family after a hard day’s work? Does it excuse any bad behaviour? Does it even explain the good things I do? A resounding ‘of course not’ comes back.

Our decisions are not the fault of our ancestors. We’re responsible to the man upstairs for our own actions.

However our backgrounds can have an influence on how we behave. Our parents and their parents have helped shape our world view, even if we determine to think exactly the opposite. So maybe we are more trapped than we think. Perhaps our uncontrolable anger is a result of generations of resolving issues by bullying?

Good News

Whatever our background someone has come forward with an amazing promise. He happened to be a perfect human being and he has guaranteed it. He said, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

We have a new ancestry, and it turns out to be rather good. To guarantee it he paid the price to have you fully adopted into his family. Yes he died to clear the debts we’d built up but he also rose to make sure that his new family wold never have to end.

He invites you and I to be part of it. I still make mistakes but the improving quality of his DNA in me is making real changes.

My dog might appreciate the croissant crumbs falling from my table as I munch away, gazing at the snow scene, but I don’t care. This breakfast is fully French and I’m part of a new family.