I find that good songs are often born in moments of worship and spontaneity. But in order to reach their potential, they need crafting outside of the limelight. This was the case with Sons and Daughters.

I first sang the chorus and bridge, pretty much in their entirety, in spontaneous worship about 5 years ago. From there I used them occasionally in worship. But last year I finally sat down to craft some verses - flesh the song out with the journey it deserved.

Where the chorus focuses on our identity as children of God, I wanted the verses to feed into this by focusing on God’s identity as our Father. The vision behind the song is to remind us that we are sons and daughters of the living God, but in order to fully know that, we must first know who God is.

One of the ideas I keep coming back to, whenever I think of the nature of God, is the many ‘paradoxes’ He embodies. He is both mighty and merciful. He is powerful, yet He is kind. He is awesome and unfathomable, yet He is close and intimate. I wanted to emphasise the wonder that the God who created the universe - ‘the God of endless wonder’ chooses to adopt us, to bring us into His family and to call us sons and daughters.

The ‘paradox’ that God is a mystery, who can never fully be known. But yet He allows us to know Him as Father. And even beyond that, the ‘paradox’ that a good Father is both strong, but also kind and approachable. 

In response to a God like this. In response to the knowledge that we are His children, we then can declare with joy (and gusto if you want to reach the notes) ‘we are not abandoned, we are not ashamed’.