He is and always was and always will be perfectly complete without any other creature in existence.
I am made in the image and likeness of God. And so are you.
And I have been thinking about that today, because it is a fascinating thing.
When I was a little girl, I enjoyed playing make-believe with dolls and teddy bears. I had a huge collection of dolls – usually pilfered from my younger sibling’s collections. Now, because my dolls were girl dolls (as most dolls are) I would make my girl dolls the mummies and the teddy bears the daddies, and I would play families between the boys and the girls and have hours of imaginative play with those dolls each day. I used to pile them up on the end of my bed and would work around them to make sure that I would be able to keep my little pretend families happy.
The reason that I pretended to play in this way as a little girl was because this is the sort of dynamic that I saw around me. And because I was happy in my family, I wished to replicate that happiness in the form of play.
Of course, when I was a little child, I did not realise that is what I was doing, but with the passing of time, I have come to realise that I was simply making families in the image of my own and living that fantasy to reinforce my own ideas about family and relationships…
And as I remember this role-play and imitation, I think of my Beloved. You see, God – who is perfect – made me (and you too) in HIS Image and likeness… And this means that He wanted to have some joy out of engaging with me – as I had engaged with my toys as a little girl.
Now, God – unlike me – has no need of me. He is and always was and always will be perfectly complete without any other creature in existence. And I suppose, this is a little like those games as a child as well.
After all, my life would be no less important, valuable or even worthwhile if I had never played those games with those toys. In fact, many little girls (and boys) refrain from that sort of play and still live perfectly happy and good lives.
So, when I fail to cooperate by living up to the standards to which I was created through my sinfulness, it is God who is deprived of some pleasure in interacting with me. And God – who is perfect – did not even need me in the first place. So, to deprive Him of any pleasure or joy through my own sinful ways would be like my toys falling apart in my hands. My life would go on without them, but I would have felt that it was such a terrible shame and such a terrible waste to have that happen.
And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about playing. Because when I was a little girl, that sort of playing kept me very entertained indeed with hours of joy, and I just wonder if I have ever provided my Beloved with a moment of entertainment…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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