Sparks, Pieces, and Other Reflections

It was surreal. I had come to see an old student and meet her family, and as I sat across from her two daughters it was as if I was sitting across from pieces for her. The eldest had her dark hyper-focused eyes, but the youngest had her smile. We were sitting on the floor playing Apples to Apples and the eldest was just as determined to win as her mother had been when playing field hockey. The youngest was just glad to be together which reminded me of when her mom and friends would come over from the dorm, sit on our floor, and watch ER while munching mounds of popcorn.

The two girls were not their mother, of course, but there were pieces of their mom in each of them. Like sparks from a fire, bits of their mother’s light shone through her daughters. It was as if I could see the student I once knew through her daughters, like they were reflections of the student I knew once.

I couldn’t help but wonder if we aren’t like that, sparks from one fire, reflections of someone else. I was thinking not only of my parents, but also the one behind all creation. Are there pieces of God in all of us? Do sparks from God’s fire shine through us? Can we know something of God by knowing something of each other?

I guess that’s what the author of Genesis meant by writing we are made in the image of God. I’ve heard that all my life but did not appreciate it until I sat on the floor with my student’s daughters.

In what way do you have “pieces” of your parents within you?

In what way do you reflect an image of God (regardless of imperfections)?

What does such a way of looking at each other mean to how we treat one another?