Created in His image...Created to be His Colors

In many ways people are people wherever you go.  We all have our joys, pains, insecurities, fears desires and passions.  However it strikes me at how beautifully different one culture is from another.  I know it is considered politically incorrect to make vast generalizations about entire people groups but that is what I am about to do, so feel free to click away at any time J  

“God made man in His own image God; in the image of God He created Him…” (Genesis 1:17a) Notice how God says the same thing twice just in case we missed it.  We all, every human on this earth, bears the image of God in some way.  I spent about two years in Kosovo living amongst a wonderfully fierce and passionate people.  Kosovars reflect God.   They are reflection of His glorious warriors heart…His jealous love for us and His zeal for truth.  I miss that terribly.  I miss the passion, the zeal, the resilience.  I miss the fire of emotion ranging from joyous to angry…often times in the span of one sentence.  I miss being able to speak passionately to my friends in the truth of God’s love for them.  Having recently come from that, it is hard to adjust to these subdued people in the Philippines.  They couldn’t be more opposite…beautifully opposite.  I am now living amongst a very sweet and sensitive people.  As an example I find that when a Filipino sees you they seem to be looking inside you.  It was a bit creepy at first granted. Being 5’11 and outweighing the local Filipino woman about 3 to one I kinda stick out.  Well no, I REALLY stick out!  It cannot be helped.  There is just no blending in for me…not gonna happen, no dice, ska shance (no chance). I should be used to being stared at though right?  I did get that a lot in my time in Kosovo.  I clearly remember people slowing down in their cars to get a good look at the “German woman who, strangely enough, didn’t seem to speak German at all.” Somehow, here, it’s just different though.  Here in Mindanao, when people stare, it is a fearless kind of steady gaze…unnerving to say the least.  I have found perfect strangers (Taxi drivers to nurses to store clerks) seem to have this incredible intuitiveness.  When they look at you they are seeing into you.  It has been a difficult transition adjusting here and no matter how perky I try to be with people they can see right through me.  At first it put me on edge, this incredible acuteness, but now I find it oddly comforting.  Filipinos, just like all of us, are made in the image of God.  They are a reflection of God’s eyes.  They look at people and really see them.  So often, when we look at people, we are not actually seeing them at all.  We are either stuck on the surface or looking right through them to the next thing on our to-do list.  People here…something about the way that they look at you seems to indicate that they understand you in a way that maybe you don’t even understand yourself. Someone recently said that they had found the Philippines a place of healing.  I think that would have to be so because the people here are so aware of pain, having experienced so much of it themselves.  Violent flooding, warring tribes, opposing ideologies, oppressive poverty and families members spread all over the world trying to support their lonely children back home.  It is no wonder that so many work overseas as nurse and caregivers.  The gentle sweetness of their manner is also a reflection God.  It reflects the tenderness of His love for us. 

In many ways we are all the same but, in the beauty of God’s varied Creation, we are not all identical.  The mellow blues, the deep solid plums, the fiery crimson, the lively greens, and the bouncing yellows of His brushstrokes are reflected in the design of those we see around us. We all reflect a different color of His love.  Red, yellow, black or white…we are precious in His sight…