By Stephanie Johnson
For over 10 years, I have been blessed with the opportunity to lead youth groups in various churches in Connecticut. During these youth group gatherings, we explore many timely, relevant topics. With many pressures facing our youth from bullying, academic demands, and concerns about their physical appearances, teens often struggle. Sometimes they feel lost in a world where connections with their friends seem fragile, even at times superficial. Teens may grapple with low self-esteem even though outwardly they present positive, successful images on social media. The expectation to keep up with their peers can be exhausting, leading to demanding expectations about who they are and how they can flourish in their lives.
During these reflections, the youth often wrestle with life’s big questions. What is my place in the world? How can I be confident and comfortable with who I am? And even more deeply, am I fully loved?
These profound questions are, of course, not limited to teens. Sometimes adults, myself included, also struggle with these existential questions about their place in the world. We, too, wonder if we are spending needless time pursuing things, not relationships with those they love. We sometimes focus our energy in keeping up with our neighbors rather than seeking our own joy and peace. The desire for perfection, or at least the appearance of perfection, can be draining.
I see this lack of contentment and sense of restlessness as spiritual angst. We are unable to see ourselves as complete and whole. Yet in the Book of Genesis on the 6th day “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, New Revised Standard Version)
As a person of faith, I believe that being created in the image of God is an affirmation that I am uniquely special in God’s eyes. The gift of life from God means I am incredibly blessed and complete in ways that I may never fully appreciate. God has formed me in ways that are beyond my human understanding. And even if I can’t fully understand of the immensity of being created in the image of the Divine, I have a profound sense of being loved for all that I am, not all that I may (or may not) accomplish or own.
Years ago there was a lighthearted skit on Saturday Night Live where the character would look in the mirror for daily affirmation and say “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggone it people like me.” While this was a silly expression, at the heart of the affirmation is the realization that at the core of our being, we don’t need to continue to live a life of constantly pursuing more. In fact, because we are so abundantly loved by God we are more than enough, we are complete and whole just the way we are.
Does this mean we shouldn’t strive for good things and success? Of course not, because in this striving we can find a sense of accomplishment. However it seems to me, if we find our singular identity in this striving and desire for more, we may never be able to see ourselves as good enough or fully complete. After all, there will always be someone or something in front of us to catch up to.
I can’t help but hope that as we begin to see ourselves as beloved and created in God’s image, that maybe we could look around in our world and community with new eyes. What if could clearly see that the stranger we meet in our community is also created in God’s image? What if we could open our eyes to truly see that the people we work with and our neighbors are also beloved and complete in God’s eyes? I wonder if our own sense of spiritual angst and restlessness would ease a bit if we could saw the belovedness of others around us. Somehow we could we could see the goodness and love in others. In the words of God in Genesis 1:31 after humankind was created in God’s image, we could then celebrate that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
The Reverend Stephanie M. Johnson is the Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Riverside.
