Reflection: Pictures of God

A six year-old girl in art class sat quietly drawing. Her teacher looked on with curiosity. She bent over and asked, “What are you drawing”? "I am drawing a picture of God," the girl answered. “But nobody knows what God looks like,” the teacher said, and the girl replied, "They will in a MINUTE!"

Every time I visit a patient in the hospital, I am shown a different face and "picture" of Jesus by the patients in each moment that I spent with them. I remember when I was visiting a 55 year-old Buddhist woman, who had a metastasized cancer, and who died within two weeks. She taught me a lesson in NEVER GIVING UP. She helped to paint for me an image of Jesus, as the one who never gave up no matter what the situations or circumstances were. He never gave up from the very beginning of His earthly life through His death on the Cross.

Another time I visited a man of about the same age. While fixing something in his mother's garage, he fell and injured himself. He had bruises all over his body. He was literally holding a picture of Jesus in his hands. When I asked him about the picture, he said, “I don’t know how long it will take to go home. I don’t know if I will be able to go to work either, but one thing I am sure is that He is with me. He never leaves me.”

Dear friends, we only need a minute, a moment, to see these pictures of God, but we must pay attention. Pay attention to where God is calling us from. Pay attention to what God wants from us. Pay attention to those who are around us. That one minute to pause and pay attention, can change our life. A moment of realization that it’s not God who goes away from us, but we go away from Him. He never leaves us alone in our sufferings and most difficult moments, even though we sometimes leave Him in our good times.

Let us draw a picture of God’s mercy, love, and compassion, and share it to those around us who may not know what God looks like. If you would like, leave a comment below and share your portrait of God with our community.