I am establishing a private group that will examine each day of December in preparation for Christmas. If you would like to join please email me or message me. This is my first attempt at anything like this--so I will probably make mistakes. My goal is to publish a book similar to the one we did for Lent. This is a sample of what the daily messages will be like. Each day will have a focus item. Thank you for considering helping me spread God's Good News. God bless you.
The Item for December 2 is a Mirror.
Morning Scripture Prayer: Adapted from Genesis 1.27.
Dear God, Help me to remember that You created everyone—male and female—to reflect God’s image. Amen.
Action: People who have the gift of sight, use a mirror to see their reflection. The amazing thing to me is that even people who cannot see with their eyes have a sense of vision. A young man I worked with at The Bicentennial of the United States Constitution was completely blind. He lost his sight and his eyes completely as a young child—however he had the best ability to “see” of any human being I have met. He would always remember to turn on the light in our office, if he arrived first. I would ask him how he knew it was dark, and why he turned the light on. He said, “It is a simply on/off switch—I learned that up was on and down was off.” Then I said, but you do not need the light. He smiled and said—"You do. I turned the light on for you, because you need it.”
So I ask us to look a little deeper into that mirror today. Can we “see” that image of God that is planted there at our creation? Will we take the time to let that image shine? Then, a follow up would be—can we look deeply into the eyes of any other person we meet and see God’s image? Much of the hostile interaction we are experiencing these days is fueled by the way we see ourselves and others. Jesus came humbly as a child, dependent upon human beings to nurture him. That should be a sign to us for how Jesus wanted to “teach us to act.” He did not come in as a powerful king, or CEO, or president. He consistently reflected the image of God wherever he went. He loved the unlovable.
Two weeks ago I woke up at two o’clock in the morning. I felt that God wanted to tell me something, and that usually happens at night when I have no other distractions. The message I heard was, “Just love everyone.” I pushed back and thought, “But God, everyone is not lovable.” Then I imagined Jesus with a twinkle in his eye saying—“I did not say love the lovable—I said love everyone.” That’s when I thought, “That is not humanly possible.”
Then I caught myself—“Of course it is not humanly possible—it takes humility—and humility comes from being able to see that all of us are made in God’s image and there is no ranking system.”
So I ask us, can we humble ourselves enough to see God’s image in us? Can we understand that loving God and loving that God’s image is in us, helps us to forgive our own attempts to “make ourselves worthy”? Can we understand that our ability to be gentle in how we see ourselves allows us to be gentle toward the other?
Recap prayer for the end of the day
Dear Jesus, Infill me with the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Allow me—whether or not I have the gift of human sight, or whether my human vision is compromised—to reflect upon myself and others as having God’s image in us. Help us to reflect God’s love and light in this season. Amen