I was once asked to consider occasions when I have been a stumbling block to God’s grace. I immediately had a bunch of examples. And every one of them had to do with what I call “the God in my eye.”

We’ve all learned some dominant image of God.  From stories we were told, or in religious school, or from a sermon or maybe during worship itself. What God looks like or how God interacts with me and you and all of creation. That image we carry has everything to do with how we operate in the world: how we think about ourselves, how we treat children and animals and other people, even how we vote.

The image isn’t good or bad, and it’s never neutral. But it’s hard to remember that it’s not the only image and it’s certainly not “the true one” against which every other image must compete.  There’s the problem. Particularly when I disagree with someone about something that really matters, I get the impression deep down inside that my idea of God is clearly the best and if you disagree, you must be downright wrong. And that’s when I get to be the obstacle that blocks you from God’s grace. And when I block you, I also block me. But here’s the grace of that realization: I know that my vision is myopic if the God in my eye does not see the God in yours and recognize and welcome it.