Creator

It's been a while and I'm in the mood, so this is a serious one. If you're not so interested, there are pictures and some light posts not too far down the page, feel free to come back when you're up for it...

When I read in Genesis that God created us his image, there are a couple of things that jump out to me (and, as usual, the things that jump are the things I don't fully understand):

First, God uses the plural. Let us make man in our image. How does that fit in? Is it because creation happened through and for the Son (the Word)? Is there something about how we are made, male and female, that cannot be captured in a single entity - even a divine one? Is there a shared part of "the image" of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit that's different from the image of any one of them, and that's the image we were to be in? If so, do we seek out more of one of the three to our detriment?

But the bigger question, for me, is what exactly is that image?

For me to do my job well, I need to know what it is I'm supposed to be. It's not going to help if I go in to work ready to put out fires or bake bread. Yeah, there are people who do those things, but that's not what my role is; in a professional sense, that's not who I am.

It's only when I know who I am supposed to be that I can start to understand what I need to do to become that person. Professionally, this may mean getting training, spending time to better understand parts of the business I'm not so familiar with, or giving up some of my activities that, as much as I enjoy them, don't contribute to getting to that core of who I am meant to be. And I am sure that the same is true personally and spiritually - as much as it is up to me (and that's a whole other post), I must know who I am meant to be before I can become that man.

So when God created us in his image, what did that mean? Who is it that we are supposed to be? What's the image we are meant to bear?

I've heard a lot of theories about this... that it means eternal, that it means designed to live in community, that is means capable of loving and being loved. Unless I am missing something, there is not much in the passage to indicate what aspects of God's image are invoked, unless it is related to our ability or authority to rule over the earth.

I honestly believe that it goes much deeper than any single factor, but the one that resonates with me the most is that, in the midst of the greatest act of creation that would ever be, God created us to be creators, too. Made to sing and draw and dance and sculpt and speak and pray... to long to bring something from nothing, order from chaos, beauty from the tin and dirt of everyday life. Made us to understand and sense possibility... not just in what is seen, but in what is not yet visible. I wonder if this is why I see a purity and beauty even in the creation of people who may not know God, why they can mirror someone they have never seen.

It is at our core. Or, at least, it is at my core. I think that my unquenchable desire to create may be the least tarnished part of who I am. As I change and grow and learn and mature, I see other aspects of who I was fall away - and gladly, as I recognize some of it for what it really is. But the more alive I become, spiritually, the more awake in me is the desire to be a creator. It becomes more focused and purposeful, but it shows no sign of abating or being replaced. I wonder if this is, at least in part, what it means to be in God's image.