In His Image

I recently started a devotional book about prayer and I have found several things impressionable about the experience.  One thing that has really stood out to me was my prayers for my kids. My boys are the beat of my heart and I was surprised to find that my prayers did not necessarily reflect that. I want to change them and fix them too many times.

Parker hates fruits and veges but loves to read. Garrett loves to play pretend and eats several chocolate donuts a week. Carter builds legos and can talk for hours on end. 

These are my boys. All three are completely different and yet the Bible tells me that they are each created in God's image. This truth has been milling around in my brain lately. I have found myself struggling with the reality that His image is not just in the obvious ones,  Mother Teresa, my parents and grandparents, John the Baptist. We see God in them all the time, the things they say and do very much reflect their faith and their creator. When I look at my boys I can see God's hand but I see such differences too. How can this be?

I am sure that I don't have all the answers but I am sure that God in all his greatness never makes mistakes. That means that the faults and failures that I see in myself are not mistakes. This means that  the faults and failures of the people around me are not God's mistakes. How many times have I strolled through Walmart having a conversation in my head about what is wrong with the mom in aisle 3 or the dad in front of me in line? Too many times, I am ashamed to say. Being a parent has humbled me in so many ways and being a parent to a special needs child has brought me to my knees.  Now I see the screaming toddler and pray for the judgers to have deaf ears to his cries. I pray for his mom to find the peace and strength to check out without crying or yelling. I know that I have been that mom and will certainly be again. Sometimes it is a misunderstanding, sometimes lack of sleep, sensory overload, or not enough; when I find myself at the mercy of a "fit" I just pray for it to end.  I would never claim to know all but I do know that we are all different, all special, and most of us are really just trying to do the best we can. I want to see everyone for the gift that God made them to be. I hope others can see each of my boys the way that God sees them. I pray that I can see His image and give Him the glory for that. There are no mistakes in his creation. Autism is not a mistake. Hating veges is not a mistake. Being a chatterbox is not a mistake. I am the one who makes the mistake when I fail to embrace my boys as individuals with different characteristics and yet each created in the image of the Almighty.