In the children’s book, “Are You My Mother?” a baby bird hatches while his mother is away from the nest. Having never seen her, he sets off to find her. He comes across a kitten and sincerely asks, “Are you my mother?” After realizing the kitten isn’t his mother, he continues his quest by asking a hen, dog, boat, and more. His question is sincere, innocent, and heartbreaking. The little bird doesn’t know what he’s looking for. He only knows it’s missing something important.

Our Search

Scripture tells us that human beings are in a similar situation.

We were made in the image of our God. Just as Seth was born “in the likeness and image” of his father Adam (Genesis 5:3), we were created to reflect the One who made us (Gen. 1:26-27). Our identity, our dignity, and our very sense of self are rooted and found in who He is. Image Bearers can only know who they are if they know the One in whose image they’re made. As Calvin wrote, “Man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.” If we don’t know whose we are, we’ll never know who we are.

But, unlike the little bird who hatched in his mother’s absence, our first parents were created in God’s presence and chose to run. He didn’t know her and went looking. We knew him and went running.

Now we wander and try to find what we long ago lost: the source of our identity. We tirelessly seek out accomplishments, relationships, pleasures, accolades, or carefully curated personalities and ask not “Are you my mother?” but, “Are you my god?” We know something deep is missing so, like little bird, we search and search. Unlike the little bird, we often settle for answers that don’t fit.

The reason nothing satisfies is that we were made from and for a specific Someone. Paul writes, “I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14–15). God alone is Mankind’s Father – the original, the source, the one from whom all belonging flows. If we don’t know our Father, in whose image and likeness we were made (Gen. 1:26-27), we can’t possibly know ourselves.

Our Rescue

In the children’s book, the fretful and anxious little bird returns to his nest where his mother eventually arrives. The little bird joyfully identifies her. She’s not a kitten, hen, or dog. She’s his mother. In Scripture, the story ends a bit differently. Instead of us returning to Him, God in Christ comes looking for his lost ones. He doesn’t wait. He rescues. He doesn’t ask us, “Do you know who you are?” but tells us, “You were lost, but now you are found.”

“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“God sent forth his Son…to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1

The little bird’s question was never really about finding his mother, but finding himself. And the answer, when it finally came, wasn’t ultimately a fact to learn, but a person to find. So it is for us: in Christ finding us, we find ourselves. Knowing whose we are is the beginning of knowing who we are.