In His Image and His Likeness

“God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness…”
Genesis 1:26a (KJV)

            A little boy about four years old would always come up to me in church. He knew that I had cough drops and stuff in my purse, so he made a point of coming to see what I had that he might want.

            One day he came up to me, but instead of asking for what I had in my purse, he grabbed me by the hand, looked intently into my eyes and asked me another question.

            “What does God look like?” he said.

            “I’m glad you asked,” I said. “You know I knew somebody would ask me that one day.”

            As he watched, I pulled my compact out of my purse and opened it, holding the mirror to his face.

            “Look,” I said.  “Who do you see?”

            “Me,” he replied.

            “That’s what God looks like. He created you in his image and in his likeness, so he must look somewhat like you.”

            “Wow,” he whispered, examining himself closely in the mirror.

            And then I put the mirror up to me, and leaned over so that he could see my reflection. “He must look somewhat like me, too. Each of us, whoever it is, was made in God’s image, so he must look somewhat like them, too. If they’re Chinese, African, Mexican. If they’re black or white or purple—”

            “There are no purple people!’ he said.

            “Yeah,” I agreed, chuckling. Taking the compact from my hand, he held it up to his face again. “Yep, that’s what God looks like,” I said.

            He nodded his head, looked up at me and smiled. Pamela Solomon Sooknanan