Abba and Peef

“Abba, as a way of addressing God, is an ipsissima vox, an authentic original utterance of Jesus. We are confronted with something new and astounding. Herein lies the great novelty of the Gospel.”

I suppose that “abba” has the same significance as “daddy” in my mind. But even then I am not sure that that really captures the dynamic. As I was trying to think of what in my experience is comparable to this, I read a verse which reminded me of my own dad.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

“Children of God”. While to be a Child is a very beautiful and noble thing, it still has the effect of being more proper and less affectionate, which I think is the whole point of this Abba thing.

I was trying to see if I knew what it was like to have an Abba for a father. I began to recall long hikes with my dad in Flagstaff and being a “peefer”. I think that is the best way to explain this concept to any Smith:

For God to be Abba, that means we are his peefs.

To be a peef is to be small and very muted loved. A peefer automatically implies a daddy who takes long walks (at peefer pace, of course) and plays his recorder. I have tried to walk and play the recorder and it is not an easy task. But I never took in the consideration that small short legs present the perfect pace for music.


“My dignity as Abba;s child is my most coherent sense of self.” Manning

I was thinking about this and this new concept of being a “peefer of God”, when I read this and wondered if it was really true. Is being a child really the most important thing Christ has given us?

I remembered my dream of the water and the old man and then the child. How strange that the old man vanished and there was that little child, the girl. She was so beautiful, bright. I knew I could trust her, and yet, she was so vulnerable and innocent. Perhaps that is what made her wise.

From this dream and from all that the bible says about being a child of God I think I am beginning to understand how we are to see ourselves. The identity of child. “The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

How sad that we think it is a great thing when a child behaves “sophisticatedly” like a “real” person. Of course, I do not think children should not therefore mature. (Childish vs childlike.)

hmm... it is too bad people don’t loose their childishness but they do loose their child likeness. I suppose they loose their child-like-ness because they learn how to hide their child-ish-ness. So we should not grow out of being a child, but we should be a child and no less. We should be a child and more.