Pieces of God

Posted on March 1, 2010 12:00 AM MST by Sara Richardson

The other night I was reading my three-year-old the Bible story about baby Jesus (from the Storybook Bible, which I love. Great pictures. Great stories for little ones.) Anyway, even though these stories are simple, somehow they always send us into the uncharted territory of discussing theology with a three-year-old. (Don’t even get me started on the story of David and Goliath. I thought the poor kid was going to have nightmares.)

After I was done reading, AJ looked at me and said, “Mom, I want to see God.” I’m not quite sure why he said this. The three-year-old mind fascinates me. Maybe he was skeptical. Maybe he simply wanted to see what God looked like. Or maybe he was just trying to stall and find excuses to stay up later.

Whatever the reason he said it, his statement caught me off guard and I almost said the first thing that popped into my head (a common problem I have.) I almost said, “I know, Buddy, but no one can see God.” Something stopped me before I could get the words out.  One of those panic moments, where you think, wait a minute, I need to get this right. So I let his words hang out in silence for a few minutes. Then I said the second thing that came to mind: “Well … you can see God.”

His eyes got wide. “I can?”

I smiled and thought about all the times God had revealed himself to me. “Sure. Maybe not the way you’re thinking, but you can see pieces of God all around you.”  Then I told him some of my own stories. The first time I remember feeling like I had seen a piece of God. I was fourteen and on a backpacking trip. In the middle of the night we climbed to the top of Mt. Huron, a 14,000-foot peak, to watch the sunrise. As the sky lightened into a cerulean blue, then into pink, then into a red glow spreading up over the tops of countless snow-covered peaks, I could hardly stand. I thought I was pretty big stuff when I was fourteen. But that view reminded me I was small. Insignificant in this great big world full of beauty and color and creativity and goodness.  A great big world reflecting God.

I explained to my son that you can see pieces of God in people. Through compassion and grace and love.  I see pieces of God in my husband. In how he loves me, overlooks my weaknesses and gently draws out those parts of me he knows will shine. I see pieces of God in the missionaries I know. Isolated from family and friends and everything they’ve ever known, serving people, loving people. I see pieces of God in good books. In beautiful paintings. In my two boys who are so full of love.

This conversation with my son reminded me how often I focus on all of the horrible things lurking in the dark corners of our world. Instead I need to be searching for those glimpses of hope. Glimpses of God.

So let’s all focus on that today. When have you glimpsed a piece of God?

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