In God's Image

It is a widely held belief among people of faith that humans were created in the image of God. The Bible states it inexplicitly; other sacred texts infer it generously throughout their instruction.

Most of us find comfort in this belief. Knowing that our roots are embedded in higher ground reassures us that, even with all our humanly faults, we were designed to be perfect and whole.

Unfortunately, many people of faith also mistakenly believe that because man was created in God’s image, God was therefore created in the image of man. God is often characterized as having human emotions and is portrayed as being vengeful, angry, judgmental and demanding.
But to attribute human emotions to God not only diminishes the nature of the Divine, but it also lessens the true nature of man.

What I’ve learned by living is that when we attribute human emotions to God, we create a space for fear in our lives. Attempts to undermine the Divine undermine our authentic selves, producing instability and discord. The result can be nothing short of fear and unhappiness.

Although Divinity flows down to us, humanity should not flow up to God. We may be a mirror of God’s image, but God most certainly is not a mirror of our's. Unlike human nature, the nature of God does not change. It is eternal and unmoving, and steadfast in its ways. Likewise, our divine roots are also eternal, unmoving and steadfast in their ways as well.

One of my favorite quotes about the true nature of God comes from the Bible. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The density of the world we live in may cloak us in emotions, but it shouldn’t keep us from reflecting the image in which we were created. Today, take time to see yourself and others as you were created--- in God’s image: perfect and whole. Pass It On.

The Circle

Like the points on a geometrical circle, each of us are on a fixed radius, with God as our center. Although our distance from our Creator is set, our position on the divine circle is not. As with all celestial bodies, we are cyclical in nature; set into motion by gravitational pull. We orbit along an obscure path, completing our rounds in minutes or lifetimes.

Each point on this divine circle carries a unique experience. We are constantly in flux between sickness and health, loneliness and fellowship, pleasure and pain. Some spots leave us destitute, others produce more riches than we can possibly carry.

We may pretend to rely on clocks and calendars to mark our spots, but truth be told, our placeholders are useless. We may project a sense of territory, but in reality, there is no place on the circle that belongs to any one person, or any one tribe. There is no hierarchy; no place better to be than the other; no reason to be somewhere we are not. We are on cyclical time. And cyclical time, unlike linear time, has its own rhythm.

What I’ve learned by living is that our locus, where we are on the circumference of creation, is irrelevant. There’s no need to fight for a place on the loop; our places are destined to change. There’s no need for judgement or regret; all points on a perfect circle are equal distance from the center.

In the end, we will all have experienced what it means to be at a specific point. We will have trudged in the shoes of those who have been without, and we will have danced in the shoes of those who have had it all. We will have cowered in the shadows of the darkness, and we will have basked in the direct sunlight of our creator.

So before you make a judgment about a specific position, whether it’s yours or your neighbor’s, keep in mind that life is cyclical. Each point is one of many on God’s perpetually moving, divine wheel. Sooner or later your spot is destined to change.

For now, it’s just where you are on the circle. Pass It On

Sacred Texts

Over 64 major religions exist in the world; each with its own set of sacred texts. That’s a lot of words of wisdom to digest. From ancient allegories attributed to Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed to commandments straight from Yahweh, there’s no shortage of divine directives for those seeking guidance. Nor is there a deficiency of experts to interpret these manuscripts.

But divine inspiration needn’t be confined to manifestos of the past. Advice from God on how to best conduct our lives isn’t on a timeline, nor is it restricted to the interpretation of outside forces.

What I’ve learned from living is that although divine wisdom may have been recorded on ancient scrolls and tablets centuries ago, it is also written in the hearts of every man woman and child alive today. In fact, the most reliable interpretation of divine guidance is found deep within our own being. The expression of love recorded here is universal, omnipresent, and needs no translation. It is illuminating, enlightening, and surprisingly simple because it arises directly from the seat of the soul.

Our creator can whisper more into a moment of quiet solitude and prayer than could possibly be contained in volumes from the past. Divine law was never intended to chastise, nor was it designed to be so complicated that it needed decoding. After all, previous generations were not any more privileged to receive wisdom than the current one, nor were they more acquainted with the will of our creator.

Granted, discerning the truth written in our hearts, from that mischievously inserted by our chattering minds is not easy. Nevertheless, as humanitarian Albert Pike said, “We have all the light we need; we just need to put it into practice.” Taking time to decipher the truth of our hearts is great practice. As is basking in the light found in the random moments of inspiration that each of us experience daily.

Although ancient texts are great resources, the words instilled in our hearts today are just as valid and as enlightening as those that were penned centuries ago. They are as current as the evening news, as accessible as the air we breathe, with memos updated daily. Wrapped in an infinite, ongoing correspondence, authored by God, they designed to encourage, to inspire and to uplift.

Each of us is living proof of God’s uninterrupted stream of dictation to the world. Our lives are the glossy white paper; inspiration the pen that is masterfully guided by the right hand of the Divine. Take a few moments of silence to turn the pages of your heart and read the sacred words being engraved in it today. Pass it On

Faith

I inherited faith from my great-grandmother when I was ten. It arrived in the shape of a yellow seed suspended in a clear, marble-sized ball. Although the charm appeared quite ordinary, I was ecstatic. I had been taught that if I had the faith of this tiny mustard seed, the entire world would be mine. It would be no problem, even for a child, to trump such a piddled piece of faith.

But at ten I lacked intimacy with faith. I knew it only as a synonym to words like hope, wish or belief. Certain that it would grant me the life I wanted, I slipped faith on a tarnished chain and wore it around my neck for years.

A few decades and a host of calamites later, that mustard seed didn’t seem so tiny after all.

What I learned by living is that faith is constant. It is an unbending, omnipresent, indelible force of life that cannot be contained, either in a heart or a glass ball. It only appears transient, often in the fleeting on again off again interim moments of our need, because we personalize it. But faith is invariable. It alters its nature for no one, and its nature is to sustain, not to console. Besides, it is only in the rearranging-- the ripping apart of our trust, and the inevitable stitching back together of it --that we can truly understand the power behind the divine essence of faith.

As we journey through life, we float along a river of sorts, with frightening twists and delightful turns; never sure of what awaits us just around the bend. Faith is the steady, unremitting breath of God buoying us along. In the midst of death, terror, and evil, faith passes under us, around us, through us; its steady current keeping our heads bobbing just above the surface.

Even on days when we can’t seem to make it off the bathroom floor, much less to our place of worship, faith is alive and well in our lives, doing its thing whether we are aware of it or not. In fact, it is often on such days as these that faith leaves its permanent mark on us. True miracles are born not out of our desire to embrace faith, so much as faith’s indiscriminate desire to embrace us.

Martin Luther King said that faith was “taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” I don’t believe you have to be strong, or resilient or even aware of the steps to receive its gifts. You only need to surrender to life, with all of its shortcomings and imperfections, and allow the momentum of faith to keep you inching forward, one stair step, one winding river bend, at a time.

After all, it’s doubtful any of us will see the entire staircase at once, or the end of the river, at least not while on this earth. It has to be enough for us to know that, despite the horrific events of our lives, we are still divinely in motion.

Whether you experience it in God, your family, or just in yourself, whether you display it through a mustard seed, a red string, or other talisman, know that in its own quiet, mysterious way, the infinite power of faith is carrying you ever forward in life.
Pass it On.