Everybody

I saw this on the internet the other day and I love it.  

This is what I think God is like.  There is a reason we call him Heavenly FATHER. 

Too often I cling to our limited vision of who God is and forget who he really is.  Well, let me back up.  I don't think as mortal human beings we are capable of understand God in His fullness.  But...

In developmental psychology we talk a lot about developmental tasks.  In adolescence a major task is to gain autonomy from your parents, in school aged children a main task is to learn how to interact with peers, in toddler hood, a main task is learning how to function on your own...  You get the idea.  While I don't think we are capable in this state of understanding God, I do think it is part of our 'developmental task' in this life is to try.  How can you emulate someone you don't know?

I also believe that, because we are separated to an extent from God, it is easy to project our earthly experiences onto Him.  We all carry with us our own set of experiences and expectations that color the way we approach the world.  That includes the spiritual world.  And it's not always a bad thing; it's a way to bring order and meaning to an otherwise confusing set of experiences. What is not so good though, is when we over-generalize, giving attributes to something or someone that don't apply.  This can lead to unfair misperceptions.  I think this is especially applicable to our conceptions of who God is because the tendency to project is compounded by the fact that we have such a limited perspective.  

I love, too, how excited both God and the boy/man are.  They are excited about the boy's life.  They are excited to see one another.  They are excited to learn about each other.  They are excited to sit down and have a meal of everything with everybody.  I'm not a parent, but I love watching those who are parents (good ones at least) talk about their kids.  I love hearing them brag about their child's positive qualities and accomplishments.  Or watching them with their kids at a playground; seeing their faces light up when their kid succeeds at something new, seeing their concern when their kid gets hurt. And I like to imagine God doing the same with us...bragging to his heavenly friends about our accomplishments, worrying about us when we are hurt, and wanting to comfort our sorrows.  Life can hurt us a little (or a lot), but it is also exciting, with lots of wonderful people and experiences.  God wants to be a part of all of it.

But my favorite thing, I think, is that Everyone is invited to God's table.  I look forward to the day when we can all sit down in God's kitchen and have a family dinner with Everyone.  I'll bring the dessert.

Maybe I am projecting here, but I think this is what God is like.  I hope I am right.