A perfect reflection?

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. --Matthew 5:48

Today was a perfect spring day. Absolutely perfect. So I took off to visit one of my favorite places, Holden Arboretum. This time of year, I figured, the azaleas would be finishing up and the rhododendrons would be in full bloom.

I was right.

But what I did not count on was the stillness of the air, and the beautiful reflections in the ponds-- the ones that didn't have gunk on them, anyway.

Beautiful, isn't it? In some ways the reflection is even more beautiful than the original. The "sky" is bluer, the "trees" greener. 

And I began thinking (again) about this verse. It can be troublesome, this single verse of Jesus' recorded words calling us to be perfect, just like God.

Or maybe-- be perfect because God is perfect. We are, after all, created in God's image; we are the Imago Dei.

Tough stuff, this. How can we possibly be a reflection of perfection?

John Wesley believed it was possible to achieve perfection in this lifetime-- but not perfect the way we usually mean. Most simply put, Wesley saw perfection as a journey of the heart. Along the way, every now and again, one's heart falls so deeply, perfectly in love with God-- that one's life becomes wholly, fully dedicated to serving God.

And the reason it's a journey? Because it's so darned hard to maintain such a state of holiness. But that, again, is where God's unfailing love and grace come in.

Thank God.

I can only speak for myself here, but sometimes, it seems, even on a day when the winds are calm in my soul, it is still just so very hard to completely focus on and be in love with God. 

Oh, it happens some days, and it's an amazing, overwhelmingly peace-filled space.

But then the phone rings, or someone cuts me off in traffic-- in other words, the world shows up. 

And like >that< a big old stone is chucked right smack dab in the middle of my perfect reflection. The "reflection" becomes difficult to recognize.

So-- the point is, we cannot do it alone. We simply must rely on the grace of God. Every morning, refreshed and rested, we set off again pursuing this relationship. And the Good News is, God is already coming after us, in hot pursuit. Wooing and pursuing, the God-of-all-that-is speaks softly to the God within each one of us.

Are you listening?