Â鶹ԼÅÄ

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with George Craig, a Methodist local preacher in Cardiff.

Good morning. My younger sister has often complained that of all the things she could have inherited from our late father it’s a bit galling that it had to include his nose and ears. Family resemblances are a funny business, but they must be important because we are told at the start of the Bible that we are made in the image of our Heavenly Father – so it’s clearly something we ought to give some serious thought to.

Clearly, we don’t all actually look like God physically – a quick glance around any group of people will show that – we really do come in all shapes and sizes. So we have to assume that our likeness to God is of a different order.

And I think there’s a clue to be found in one of the relatively harmless pastimes of a grandparent: spotting the various family resemblances amongst grandchildren – attitudes, temperaments, behaviours that seem to pop up in every generation.

The family likeness may not be physical, but the personality and the character are easy to spot.

And it seems to me that is how we can be like God – showing His love, His care and kindness, His tolerance and understanding. The mission of the Christian is to be our Father’s living presence in the world.
.
I’d be honoured to be told that I had inherited any of my father’s strengths – and there were many – so my Christian life should be a constant striving to show the world how much I am like my Heavenly Father.

Lord God, You made us in your image and yet we find it so hard to show it. Make us more like you, showing one another a love that truly reflects Yours. Amen