Lipstick and God

So it has been so busy here the past few weeks! My daughter and I got to travel with my husband to the State High School basketball tournament to watch him ref and spend time with family. We are finally getting back into a groove here at the Davis household! And believe it or not, I actually did not have content pre-written to post while away.

The past weeks I have been enjoying a book, Sex God. This book frequently brings tears to my eyes and touches my soul. I think that anyone should check it out - the title is only the beginning! This author has amazing podcasts as well and are definitely worth checking out as well. One of the chapters that I most recently read was entitled "God wears lipstick". I have found this chapter to be very applicable for where I am currently in my walk with God and our stage as a family right now. The entire context of the chapter was centered around a story of a British Lieutenant Colonel who was part of liberating a German concentration camp.

Bell quotes in this chapter:

"How you treat the creation, reflects how you feel about the creator. When a
human being is mistreated, objectified, or neglected, when they are treated
as less than human, these actions are actions against God. Because how you
treat the creation reflects how you feel about the Creator."

he goes on to say...

"When I respect the image of God in others, I protect the image of God in
me. When Jesus speaks of loving our neighbor, it isn't just for our neighbor's
sake. If we don't love our neighbor, something happens to us. And in trying to
protect the image of God in them, we just might be protecting the image of God
in ourselves in the process. Because with every decision, conversation, gesture,
comment, action, and attitude, we're inviting heaven or hell to earth."

This concept really hit home for me. I have watched and listened and known of so many things where people have been mistreated by those who claim to love our Creator the most. And what has grieved me the most is that they are hurting themselves so much more. They are not just hurting the other, but themselves- their families - their relationship with the Maker.

At the end of this chapter Bell finishes the story of the British officer saying that one afternoon a huge shipment of food and medicine arrive - and boxes full of lipstick. The officer states that people were walking around with 'scarlet red lips' and walking around 'with pieces of lipstick clutched in their hands'. The officer states "at last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm....that lipstick start to give them back their humanity."

Bell finishes by saying,

"...sometimes, the difference between heaven and hell may be a bit of lipstick."

My husband and I have chosen a path that we want to protect the image of God in ourselves - we want to invite heaven to earth - to our home - to our in and outs of daily life - to our hearts and minds. I don't ever want to say that I was known for taking away from a person's humanity - their image in Christ and in so doing, do the same thing to myself.