Seeing with God's eyes

There's a wonderful line from First Corinthians that's been haunting me lately: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

I finished Desmond and Mpho Tutu's book, Made for Goodness, today, and I think I interpret that Corinthians passage differently now.  Today it feels like we see ourselves, and our relationship to God, only dimly; we do not realize the intensity of the love and affection God feels for us.  And those aspects of ourselves which are dimmed by societal pressures -- or internal pressures -- to be other than who we are; those aspects, those gifts are so clear in God's eyes...

The Tutus ask us to imagine being looked at with love.  Even if we've never experienced that look, we've seen it on other faces -- mothers looking at their adored children; young lovers gazing into each others' eyes... 

Now imagine that God looks at us that way ALL THE TIME.  That is how precious we are.

And now ask yourself: if I knew I was THAT PRECIOUS; if I could feel the intensity of that love, a love that sees into the very heart of me and knows me and knows what I am capable of -- both good and bad -- what would I do differently today?

The book ends with a long and wonderful poem:

You are my child,
My beloved.
With you I am well pleased.
Stand beside me and see yourself,
Borrow my eyes so you can see perfectly.
When you look with my eyes then you will see
That the wrong you have done
and the good left undone,
The words you have said that should not have been spoken
The words you should have spoken but left unsaid,
The hurs you have caused,
Teh help you've not given
Are not the whole of the story of you.
You are not defined by what you did not achieve.
Your worth is not determined by success.
You were priceless before you drew your first breath,
Beautiful before dress or artifice,
Good at the core.

And now is time for unveiling
The goodness that is hidden behind the fear of failing.
You shout down your impulse to kindness
in case it is shunned,
You suck in your smile,
You smother your laughter,
You hold back the hand that would help.
You crush your indignation
When you see people wronged or in pain
In case all you can do is not enough,
In case you cannot fix the fault,
In case you cannot soothe the searing, 
In case you cannot make it right.
What does it matter if you do not make it right?
What does it matter
if your efforts move no mountains?
It matters not at all.
It only matters that you live the truth of you.
It only matters that you push back the veil
to let your goodness shine through.
It only matters that you live as I have made you.
It only matters that you are made for me,
Made like me,
Made for goodness.

Listen, my friends.  And believe.

And -- knowing and believing you are this good and this loved, what will you do differently today?