Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
A question that has been asked a million times is what does God look like. Some people have said that sense no one has ever seen him, we cannot know what he looks like. And so, we are left with the notion that we should use our imagination to visualize him. Reading an article recently, I was intrigued by the imagination and wit of a kindergartner’s response to her teacher when asked what she was drawing.
The teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. Occasionally, she would walk around to see each child’s work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” The teacher paused for a moment and said, “but no one knows what God looks like.” Without missing a beat or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, “They will in a minute.” Do you have an image of what God look like? Perhaps a deeper question to ask is what does he mean to you and is he the driver in your life?
I thought to myself that I should use my own vivid imagination to envision what God looks like. The imagination of child can often make us think beyond the realm of belief. I have often written that each day of our life start as a blank canvas. Without meeting God in person, the little kindergartner used her imagination to draw a picture of what she believed God to look like.
Finally, biblical history revealed that when Joseph was but a boy about 17, his brothers sold him into slavery. However, when he was 30, Pharaoh made him ruler of Egypt. Prior to being sold into slavery, Joseph suffered terribly at the hands of his brothers in his childhood days. However, he rose from cruel treatment by his brothers to hold the power of life and death over them. Yet he chose not only to forgive them, but to feed them in the time of famine.
It’s one of the greatest examples of forgiveness in history. Joseph’s life was driving with purpose because as his family stood trembling before him, Joseph said “you intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” The late great Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi said, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
It doesn’t matter the age, fascinating minds driving with a purpose can reveal extraordinary things and achieve great accomplishment if they Never Give Up! Never Give Up! Never Give Up!
chaplain@lhp.net
