If you are a Christian you have often heard that we are all created in God’s image. Depending on who you talk to, that image can be quite different. As a Catholic, I have often struggled with this notion. How can God have created us all in his image if we are so different from one another? How can there be evil in the world, and people with disabilities if we were all created in God’s image?

This is my take on it….

We, as humans, feel the need to put our labels on God. Most refer to God as a him, and depending on what church you are in you will see Jesus depicted as a white man with blond hair, a black man, or an olive skinned man with brown hair. All depictions that match the people worshiping. We simply craft an image that is familiar to us. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but I don’t think our terms of white and black and male and female apply here. God is not a person, so we cannot describe “him” using our labels.

When I hear - God created us in his image, I do not think of it in terms of what God looks like. I think of it in terms of what God means to me. The image we were created in, to me, is one of love, understanding and forgiveness. All of those people on earth who seem so far removed from God, people who we deem evil, are examples of the other side of the coin. A way for us to realize the love within us. Can we forgive those who have wronged us? Can we reach out those who have been victimized? Living a life that exemplifies love, kindness and understanding is reflecting that image back to God.

You don’t have to belong to a particular religion to be spiritual. Every path is different but hopefully at the end of the road something spectacular is waiting.

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