Facets

You aren’t exactly the same person with your work colleagues as you are with your parents, your friends, your partner, your children, or people you meet in other contexts. Every relationship brings out a different aspect of your personality. You don’t express everything to everyone, all day long. - Mark McGuinness at Lateral Action


This quote got me thinking about being multifaceted, which led me to think about God, who never changes but is more multifaceted than us, I'm sure.

It's still me when I'm in my professional, teaching role, but it's only one facet of who I am. It's very different than the me my grandchildren see. It's different than who I am with friends, and that is a little different from friend to friend. It's not being phony, it's being who you are in a way that is appropriate to the context you are in. Behaving otherwise would be both ridiculous and hurtful.

I think it's the same with God. Who He reveals himself to be to me is not going to be exactly the same with someone else. Of course we don't always see accurately (and we can twist what we think we see), and even when we've got the right picture, it isn't as clear as it will one day be. We only see some of the facets.

At any point in time, our understanding of who He is will be incomplete. And I think even that is part of God's grace to us. Things beyond our comprehension aren't going to help us and may even harm us. Because He loves us, he gives us what we need, even in terms of relationship with Him. No more, no less. And for us, that is perfect, complete and whole in that moment.


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