One of the things I’m trying to be better about is living a life of attention. Every day, every moment holds opportunities to experience the Divine, and I want to move through the world with an open heart and open eyes.
Most days I suck at this. I’m just trying to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and with few interruptions. But I’m starting to think that that’s not really a good way to live. You miss so much wandering through life like that.
Unfortunately, this same principal of paying attention also applies to people. I’m kind of an introvert and a grumpy one at that. I don’t really like people. They scare me and confuse me and anger me beyond belief. I like the people that I like, and try to put up with everyone else. But one of my friends reminded me of something important today. That each of us, all of us are made in the image of God. We carry a bit of the Divine in us.
Every single day I have a thousand opportunities to either ignore, dismiss, or disrespect the people that surround me. And in those thousand moments I also have the opportunity to try to see the spark of divinity, also the broken humanity, the beauty, in them.
I spend a lot of my day talking to people on the phone. And after I’m done, I lament the various ways that they’re incompetent. This usually involves banging my fist or my head against my desk and using some colorful language. But these people are more than the few minute interactions that I have with them on the phone. And they are more (contrary to popular belief) than annoyances sent to earth to ruin my day. They have lives and experiences and circumstances that I have no idea about. And they, like me, bear in themselves the image of God.
It’s true that some images of God are dumber and more annoying than others (imo). But that doesn’t make them any less worthy of love and respect and kindness. It’s easy to forget that when it appears to be Stupid Question Day, and humanity seems intent on trying my last nerve. But it’s the truth.
theRorishow 