I don't have the right words to describe how this picture makes me feel. I feel calm, joy, excitement, encouraged, uplifted, peaceful... all at once. I also feel like he is not a "man" I'd ever want to cross!
This is a picture titled Prince of Peace painted by an eight year old, Akiane, who claims to have been to Heaven. I found out about her after "reading" Heaven Is for Real (actually, I listened to it on audiobook).
I really don't care if she is telling the truth or not. I personally believe that she is (and that the little boy in Heaven Is for Real is telling the truth as well).... but EVEN IF SHE ISN'T... I can't deny how her painting makes me feel.
Every picture I have ever noticed of Jesus gives me a similar reaction as the picture above. I just don't feel anything. I don't want to get to know the man in the picture more. I don't want to reach out and hug him and laugh and cry all at the same time. It's just another thing to look at that does not stop me dead in my tracks. (And then I feel guilty because I'm supposed to be looking at a picture of JESUS for crying out loud, why am I so emotionally unattached to him!?)
Akiane's picture of Jesus does make me feel all those things. When I look at the picture above, I do not feel like Jesus is my friend. When I look at Akiane's Jesus, I know that I have a friend, and he's not just waiting for me in Heaven, he is with me everyday! He is listening to me when I pray to him to help my baby feel better! He is listening to every trivial thing I tell him!
Thank you, Father! Thank you for opening the ears of a little girl who listened to your call to pick up a paint brush! Thank you for guiding her hands to draw your son! Thank you for letting another little boy, a stranger to Akiane, recognize your son from among hundreds of other illustrations of Jesus after he had seen his face "for real." Thank you for giving all of us here on Earth another image to look at when we try to imagine your face; one that renders so much emotion.... even if it is only rendered by me. Amen!
