The visible image of the invisible God

I wanna share with you the following taken from the Divine Romance, by Gene Edwards. The book is a "rendition of the love of God" telling the story of creation, the crucifixion and the resurrection from the view of angels. Automatically, some of you are going "fruity"! But this took my breath away. Never before have I considered how artistically and lovingly we were made. And more than that, it gave me a slap in the face that yes we are created in God's image and what a high calling it is to live our lives truly reflecting "his image". Even the angels marvelled at our creation. Yet our view of ourselves is never what it should be. We are commanded to love our neighbour "as ourselves" and as our Divine father also loves us.

Creation of Man

"Suddenly, the look on the face of the Creator changed. He was searching for something … something in his own being. Slowly he drew that element from out of himself and engraved it upon the clay.
With the last sculpting stroke, he stepped back from the moist sod, allowing the angels to have a full view of his completed work. They gasped in amazement and cried together,

"His image, Visible!"

"Once more the Lord God bent gently over the sculptured clay. For a moment the face of the Living God and the face carved upon the lifeless clay almost touched.
The Lord God breathed.
Clay nostrils quivered and flared. The wet clay fleshed, stiffened, stirred, and began quietly breathing.
Almost pensively the Lord stepped back. The newest of his creations turned his head … and stared for a brief moment at the panorama of celestial beings gathered about. Then, in the most natural of gestures, the rouge-tinted man sat up … turned … and serenely faced his Sculptor.
With that the Lord approached the model. Again their two faces almost touched, while angels whispered their approval.
"Why, why … they are almost like brothers."
Of all the innumerable creatures fashioned by his poetic hand, there was but one of whom it could be said, "The Lord God was thinking of himself when he created this one." And, as the angels had surmised, this latest and final creation was male.

Creation of Woman

One angel, most irreverently, cried aloud the thoughts of all: "He is not making another Ish (man). This one is alike, yet different. As the lioness is to the lion, so is this out-of-man (from the rib). But never, never cried the wayward angel, "was a lion or lioness as beautiful as this."
Another angel broke the confines of restraint. "Nor was even man so beautiful as this!" he exclaimed. With that, the vaults of heaven broke open, and in one full-throated shout, all heavenly beings proclaimed:

Never was, nor e'er shall be
As beautiful a thing as she.
All hosts in heaven's court,
All creatures on earthern sod,
It matters not the tribe nor race,
One sight alone can be
More beautiful than she.
It is the face of God.

Now compare that image to the image of woman portrayed in the first paragraph below:

Holy Wagner "God Chicks"

"Millions of women around the world have not been blessed with the liberation that most of us take for granted. Some girls in India and Southeast Asia are sold into brothels so that their families can avoid having to feed one more mouth. Millions of baby girls in China were aborted or murdered simply because they were female. Some cultures still don't educate girls, feeling that they are inferior to boys. So you and I have a job to do. Interestingly enough, if you look at a map of the world's most poverty and disease stricken spots, and you overlay it with a map of the parts of the world where women are the most oppressed, you will find them to be identical. A nation can't oppress half of God's children and expect to be blessed. (very interesting!)

You have a responsibility to womanhood on the planet to be all that you were created to be. Do it for that young girl in Pakistan whose skin, because of the clothes she is required to wear, may never see the sun. Do it for the woman in the Middle East who is married to a man who continually abuses her and from whom she can't escape. Do it for the woman in central Africa who had to undergo female genital mutilation and so will not only never experience pleasure in intercourse, but will continually be plagued by infections. Don't hide behind fear or anger or a lack of confidence. You were put on the planet for "such a time as this". Now is your time. The world is counting on you ."

Do what you can with what you have, wherever you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

I think you'll agree that those womans' lives have been stolen from, that the enemy has wrought destruction there and that the enemy has tried to mask and hide their value and identity. But then I thought of myself, who although free, can let fear or doubt make my dreams seem far away or unobtainable, and that doesn't mirror the image of "woman" that God created either. And more so than that, whenever I let pain from my past bruise my heart, or I let a lie or insecurity speak to my future, then that doesn't mirror the "visible image of the invisible God" either. The angels of heaven were poised in anticipation when God created man and woman (and the above isn't gender specific – the male image has come under so much attack through the ages, that half the men of this world aren't even sure who they are, because they don't have a revelation of who they were created to be). The world is counting on all of us. God is counting on us – he won't force us to act, rather "the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him" (2 Chron 16:9) . So next time I'm thinking, I can't really take 5 minutes out of my day to start reading a book that could help me grow, or I'm far, far to busy to say a few words of encouragement to someone, or to notice a need. Then I pray that I'd remember that I bear the image of god and that I live and breath for such a time as this. Living life to the full is not an option, it's a command engraved on our very hearts. [ Ecclesiastes 3:11 (Amp) "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy]..",
And there's a whole world out there that needs the same revelation we have, that we are not that which may have been abused by the world, or our own low expectations of ourselves, but that we are sons and daughters made in his image, rightful heirs to the King of Kings. Eternally cherished.