Oh! Hi Jesus.

Sometime ago when my husband let his facial hair grow out, he had a rather surprising encounter. He and a member of the bishopric were standing in the clerk’s office when a toddler-age girl came tearing into the room.

Now to a toddler, whose eye-level hits just above the knee on most adults, all dads in their Sunday suits look the same. I suppose she thought she was running into the safe zone of her dad when she ran into my husband and grabbed onto his leg.

He of course looked down at this little intrusion, and she of course looked up. The realization that the man looking at her was not her father dawned momentarily in her eyes only to be replaced with calm recognition as she matter-of-factly replied, “Oh…hi Jesus.”

She merrily skipped off leaving the two men stunned. When my husband regained his thoughts, he chuckled and said to his colleague, “Well, that’s never happened to me before.”

Lack of facial hair (I hope) aside, I know I’ll never be physically mistaken for Jesus, but could I perhaps be mistaken for him in my interactions? Could the mark I make on people’s lives leave them feeling like Christ had been there?

I’ve met people who are truly Christ-like. They have a capacity for love I can only marvel at. I imagine that for them meeting Christ will be an easy recognition. Like this little girl, they’ll one day look up and say, “Oh. Hi Jesus.” And then fall at His feet to worship.  

The good news for me…this same experience is not out of reach:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true ^bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall ^cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be ^dpurified even as he is pure. Amen.