In God's Eyes

In my daily prayers, I ask to see the world as God sees it. My own vision is so limited and self-centered, and I am often blind to the miracles of the Holy Spirit as they happen around me.
I believe that God sees each one of us as unique, beloved, precious children. In God’s eyes, we are the fruit of divine love, conceived in joy, born with hope for abundant life. As someone said to me yesterday, “God wants us all to be happy.” Yes, God does. As a mother, I know that is the primary wish that I have for my children, simply that they be happy in this world that God created and called good.
So when I watched the President’s news conference on Sunday night, announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, my heart felt like a stone in my chest. In the eyes of many, this was a victory. This was revenge at last. This was justice served.
And yet when I tried to see through God’s eyes, all I could feel was stunned grief. This is hardly justice as our scripture defines it. Perhaps God alone truly sees beyond our outer selves. Perhaps God alone can see beyond the human categories of Muslim and Christian, righteous and infidel, good and evil. But I cannot imagine that the purposeful murder of any living being is a cause for rejoicing in God’s eyes. I believe the heart of God breaks to see blood spilled in anger, with intent to do harm.
I will leave it to others to decide if our world is now safer or more dangerous. I will leave it to others to determine whether the time and resources devoted to bin Laden’s capture and death were worth the cost. I will leave it to others to discern the political and military implications of this act.
In response, I will simply affirm the truth that is the foundation of my life: Jesus is Lord! My highest allegiance is to follow him: to love my enemies even if they seek to harm me; to witness for peace through nonviolence rather than retaliation; to pray for reconciliation in conflict; to affirm the divine value of each human life, no matter how much we have devalued and demonized ourselves.
From what I know about Osama bin Laden, his perception of the West was deeply skewed and profoundly hateful. In his worldview, we were a threat so ominous that he could see no hope for connection, relationship, or common understanding. In his worldview, the only option was to seek our destruction.
It saddens my spirit that in the end this became our only option toward him, as well.
Jesus taught us to see one another through God’s eyes. I pray for the strength to see my friends and my enemies with that same loving gaze, knowing there is an alternative to violence and death. The cycle will never end unless we act with courage, trusting that Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed!