When I was much younger, I remember adults saying, “he (or she) is the spittin’ image of their father/mother”. Now, I am still not sure what a “spittin’ image” actually is but it doesn’t sound so very nice. A little search on the internet and you find so many ideas, but the one that strikes me as close to real is the one that says “spittin image” means someone who looks so much like someone else, it is as if they were literally spit out of the other’s mouth.
Ugh, imagery is not always good in an active mind. Put that aside and consider what this means. A person so much like another person, you basically see them as the same person. Identical twins can often look that way but other than that how else can one be a spittin’ image? Well, it just so happens that you and I, all of us are an exact spitting image of the Creator of the Universe.
Before you get agitated over this idea (as happened to me once in a group discussion), go read Genesis. God says “let us make man in our own image”. Sadly, over the years we have forgotten this. Religious traditions have taught us that we are separated from God, we are not in God’s image. We have gotten it so wrong and caused so much misery for ourselves and others.
At the Abbey, hospitality is extended to any who come to the door. The Rule of Benedict teaches that the person at the door must be seen as the face of the living Christ. Mother Theresa said the same when asked how she could minister to the sick and poor every day…..they are the face of the Living God. So, we are in God’s image, exactly. We have not ever and cannot ever be separated from God, except in our own mind.
You do know it is okay to change your mind and your beliefs, right? You do not have to believe you are separated from God. A lot of gospel tracts show this great chasm between us and God, bridged by the Cross. I used to use and believe these tracts. Not any more. I now understand that I have never been separated from God, not ever. It is not possible because we come into this world as One.
Imagine what our world would be like if we could let ourselves see that we are all part of the One, that we are the One. How would we treat each other? How would we treat ourselves? It is time to put away “childish things” and accept the reality that we are part of God and God is part of us and that is always has and always will be that way. Kinda makes all of the things we allow to separate us from others look petty doesn’t it?
Come with me on a new adventure that I have been working on for awhile now. Let’s just become part of the flow of the love of God, let’s become the true “instruments of peace” and of love. Let’s learn together how to look like God.
TMM