before whom I bow (ultimately)

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The people that I see around might be

quite immature & really quite unlike

you, still I look to them as though all we

are perfect likenesses. No fractures, spikes,

or difficulties there. An image bright.

A photo, or reflection, "good as gold".

Then I recall your word, as well I might;

"the image & the likeness..", we are told,

of the Creative Love appeared on Earth,

when the first man and woman got to be,

just baby gods, but perfect in their mirth

and love between themselves - and what was seen.

So, part of me has not recalled the step

to self-determination which soon shook

the world, and God's own heart - & how "he wept",

how grief had cut his heart..  when we had looked

to "other gods" than him, to model health.

What some have called the Fall, or Jump - we made,

so choosing other ancestors ourselves

to grow up like - trumps: Diamonds, Clubs, or Spades;

the Ace and faces of the Hearts de-grade.

And yet our game, it turns out, is more like

a game of old "King Mao", where rules are made

by someone, not ourselves. The "COVID spike"

then brings its consequences to God's world.

This is the world where I live, here, right now.

A king who is much better, though he's curled

within each self, when we become a bower.

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• Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth." God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. Gen 1:26-27

• The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Gen 6:5‭-‬6 

• It is dangerous to be concerned with what other people think of you, but if you trust in the Lord you are safe. 

Prov 29:25 (Biblia)

• so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

Col 1:10‭-‬23 NRSV-CI

• My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,

Galatians 4:19

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