The face says it all. We are made in the image and likeness of God. When we take the time to look at someone’s face, we see both God and our neighbor.
The smile, the wrinkles, the joy or sorrow in their eyes, the softness or the leather like look of their skin all tell a story. They tell the individual’s Gospel story.
To take a pause and look at one’s face gives us a chance to be mindful that God is in our neighbor. It gives us a chance to take a brief moment and have reverence for God. In someway, whether we know them or not, we know that God is working out a purpose He has given only to them.
When we take a pause, we cease to judge. Instead, in that moment we can find love and mercy because we love God. When we come back to the moment and end our pause, we may find ourselves more loving and compassionate. We may come out of it different knowing that even if they are doing wrong, they are loved by God and have a purpose that only they can achieve for God. Perhaps they got off course, but so did Saul. God has a way of using all for His good. He is the writer of all our Gospel stories. In the moment that we take a pause during the encounter with one who may have gone in the wrong direction, we may be reminded that while we must always defend truth and love, we also cannot forget that God has a plan and we cannot get in the way by becoming angry and judgmental. Those reactions only cause division. We can express our desire for the truth and love in these situations while, at the same time, loving the person because God loves them. We can trust we may be a part of their change of heart, but not necessarily the entire instrument used. We give our yes in the moment and give thanks to God for having been some part of that person‘s Gospel story whether we see it or not.
With every encounter, our faith is changed because our heart has changed. We have a new sentence to our Gospel story. We are now a little more like Jesus and we trust in someway the person we were with is changed also. In some way we have added something to their story as well. Once again we can take a pause and give reverence to God for the two hearts that are now slightly different than they were before. We are all connected because we are all one in the Body of Christ, but now our union with that person is a little deeper because in having an encounter with them, we’ve had an encounter with God because God is in our neighbor. Just as Moses’ face radiated (Ex 34:29-35) because he had spoken with the Lord, our face now radiates. We may not be aware, just as Moses wasn’t. Nevertheless, it does and because our Gospel stories have been added to, the world has been made a little better.
So much good can come out of taking a pause and looking at one’s face with reverence for God. It can take an insignificant moment and make our lives and the lives around us better. It can make the world a little better because in the brief pause of that moment, we can be reminded that we are the prayer.
Prayerfully Reflect on the Following:
“We know that all things work for the good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28). This is true for us and our neighbor. It is true for those we like and those who rub us the wrong way.
Reflect on Exodus 34:29-35. Imagine what you must look like and what is seen in the spirit of those around you when you come out of prayer.
“God created mankind in His image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Gen 1:27). We can be in awe over the fact that God chose us all to be made in His image.
We strive “to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call.” Ephesians 4:3-4
“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many are one body, so also Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one spirit.” 1Corinthians 12:12-13
