Every once in awhile I will come across an article on the Internet with the title "Man Finds Hope After Seeing Image of Jesus in Toast." These are the things in life that make you go, "Huh?" I actually always get a kick out of stuff like this. Jesus appearing in the form of a Cheeto? An image of our Blessed Mother on a Dolce and Gabbana purse? God works in mysterious ways...
I recently came across a book called "Look! It's Jesus!" and it is a bunch of pictures of food and other random objects with supposed images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and even Moses (I personally thought that one looked like Noah, but that's just me.) The book is a hoot! Some of the images were crazy difficult to make out. There was an image of Jesus in a guitar and I looked and looked and still couldn't see it. The food images were the best. I am definitely not one to examine my food before I eat it to see if there is some holy image. I don't stop and think, "Is Jesus in my spaghetti?" and look diligently for his blessed face. The only thing I say before I eat is, "Mmmm... yum!" before I start scarfing it down like Homer Simpson.
Like I said, I always get a kick out of these situations. It's fun to see what crazy object Jesus will "appear" on next. The even funnier thing is to see how much that object or food item will go for on Ebay.
All this "seeing Jesus in a nacho chip" got me thinking. We are supposed to see Jesus in everyone. Even Mother Teresa said, "I see God in everyone." Look in the Bible. Jesus himself tells us that we should see him in everyone we see. "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:40) Sigh... My path to sainthood is doomed because I see more of Jesus in an Arby's curly fry than I do in that mean lady who cuts in front of me at the grocery store and gives me the stink eye or my neighbor that wakes me up at 7:15 a.m. to work on his 3-wheeler (yeah, I'm still not quite over that one yet.)
Not to get all happy-clappy, Kumbaya-ish on you all, but sometimes it is easier for me to see Jesus in nature than in my neighbor. It's not a bad thing to see God's amazing glory in an awesome sunset or a beautiful lake scene; it's just that God made human beings to be a greater good than nature.
We are supposed to see Christ in everyone we meet. It is a good thing to see God in all his majesty when we walk out in nature. It's an amusing thing to see Jesus in a Snickers candy bar. But I believe the most important place to see Christ is in our own lives. He should be front and center in all we do. I love reading this particular part of St. Patrick's Breastplate:
Like I said, I always get a kick out of these situations. It's fun to see what crazy object Jesus will "appear" on next. The even funnier thing is to see how much that object or food item will go for on Ebay.
All this "seeing Jesus in a nacho chip" got me thinking. We are supposed to see Jesus in everyone. Even Mother Teresa said, "I see God in everyone." Look in the Bible. Jesus himself tells us that we should see him in everyone we see. "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:40) Sigh... My path to sainthood is doomed because I see more of Jesus in an Arby's curly fry than I do in that mean lady who cuts in front of me at the grocery store and gives me the stink eye or my neighbor that wakes me up at 7:15 a.m. to work on his 3-wheeler (yeah, I'm still not quite over that one yet.)
Not to get all happy-clappy, Kumbaya-ish on you all, but sometimes it is easier for me to see Jesus in nature than in my neighbor. It's not a bad thing to see God's amazing glory in an awesome sunset or a beautiful lake scene; it's just that God made human beings to be a greater good than nature.
We are supposed to see Christ in everyone we meet. It is a good thing to see God in all his majesty when we walk out in nature. It's an amusing thing to see Jesus in a Snickers candy bar. But I believe the most important place to see Christ is in our own lives. He should be front and center in all we do. I love reading this particular part of St. Patrick's Breastplate:
Christ be with me, Christ be within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all who love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
A long time ago, I used to feel a little uncomfortable when I would hear people say they loved God more than their own family or friends. Sure, I thought God was supposed to be an important part of one's life, but I thought their sentiments were a little extreme. It took me awhile before it dawned on me- without God we wouldn't have our families. We wouldn't have our friends. We wouldn't have our boyfriends/girlfriends or spouses. We wouldn't have our community or homes. We wouldn't have the good things in life (laughter, love, passion, memories, sun light, an ice-cold beer, a good book, a comfy sweatshirt... ) We wouldn't have our existence. Shouldn't we honor our Creator and thank him for all he has given us? Shouldn't we make him a part of the rest of the good things in our life?
I need to work on seeing Jesus in everybody. I need to work on seeing him in my life, even when he seems far away. OK... and maybe I should forgive my neighbor already for disturbing my sleep! I'm a work in progress!
I need to work on seeing Jesus in everybody. I need to work on seeing him in my life, even when he seems far away. OK... and maybe I should forgive my neighbor already for disturbing my sleep! I'm a work in progress!
4 comments:
I love this; thanks for posting! It is hard for me to see God in a lot of the people I encounter, especially working at the library, where there are a lot of folks who try your patience. I need a reminder! :)
I also struggle with this but one thing that has helped is as someone once told me ~ to remember that everyone is a child of God ~ so when I can't quite see Christ in the person harming or annoying me ~ I try and remember that God does and try and see them through the eyes of a loving parent (who wishes they would behave better) but still loves them very much!
As I'm struggling to forgive today, this reminder to see Jesus in everyone challenges me even more.
Thank-you (I think!).
So many good points! My favorite part was: "My path to sainthood is doomed because I see more of Jesus in an Arby's curly fry than I do that mean lady who cuts in front of me at the grocery store and gives me the stink eye..."
Post a Comment