Images of God

A policeman out to enforce morality.

A genie in a bottle whose job is to grant wishes and requests.

A busy dad who is available for family time only on Sunday.

A grey-haired, bearded grandfather who sits in a chair and watches his grandchildren but doesn't actively participate in their lives.

An old man wearing a white robe—or black clothes to match the space in which he lives.

A magnificent, beautiful figure made of gold and rainbows who sits on a throne.

A green being to match the color of frogs and trees.

Radiant, blinding light or ethereal, ghostly, shadowy sensation.

If we take a few moments to think, then we will realize that we all have "images" of God that come to mind when we speak of God. For some, they are God the Father; for some, theyare God the Son; for others, they are God the Holy Spirit; for others, they fluctuate between all parts of Trinity God; for still others, they are images of nothingness—a void—because God seems not to be there.

My images of God have changed over the years and I imagine they will change again, but for the past few years, they have existed in my mind as:

A loving, compassionate Jesus—dark skin, bearded, in a robe like he would have worn when he walked the earth, a calm non-anxious presence with deep, deep love in his eyes...and very often smiling, laughing, or chuckling.

and

God, in a stationary chair in a cool, pitch black room, again a non-anxious presence, again with deep, deep love in God's eyes, patient, holding a match-box, waiting for a fumbling, searching 'me' to findwhere God IS (and always has been), light the match that I'm carrying, and fuel the light that has always existed and still always exists but so often gets engulfed by darkness.

In a friend's mind, God is the whole of unified existence.

In scripture, God says, "I AM."

Who do you see when you imagine God?

What's more: how does who you see reflect your understandingof the nature and character of an "unchanging" God?