Is This the Face of God? October 2007
by Risa White When you look into the face of the one you love who is affected by autism, what do you see? Too often, I see in my son's face the signs of "what's wrong with him." I see his frustration over trying to get it "right," a lack of response when I speak to him, or an inappropriate response to a situation. Other times, I see pure joy on Aren's face as he shares with me new (or old) information he's discovered, reckless abandon as he leaps off his miniature trampoline for the millionth time, or absolute peace as he sleeps away the worries of the day. Recently, though, I remembered something that I'd been forgetting to look for in that precious face while teaching a class at my church. "And God created humankind in his image. In the image of God, he created them." Genesis 1:27. Every person on this planet has one thing in common. Each one of us was created in God's image. It doesn't matter if we have ugly feet, big hips, or autism; each of us bears the image of God in all our seeming imperfections. Sometimes we wonder, "Why did God do this?" or "Is this a mistake in the plan?" Yet, when we look in the face of another human being, we are called to see not just what we think of as their flaws or beauty but the face of the living God. Maybe this realization will change the way I interact with my son. Maybe it will even change the way I interact with others who are different than me. How might it change you? |