Children of God

I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness. . . Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes."

                                                                                                                   Thomas Merton

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Either the world is full of strangers

to be feared

perhaps hated

or the world is full of brothers and sisters

who share the Divine image

and are each

precious and valuable

to be respected

and greeted

seen as God sees them

child of God

can I do this

have this revelation?

only if I dare believe

that I am seen by God

and that is how God sees me