Polishing the image, restoring the likeness
![DSCN0120[2]](http://www.blessedisthekingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSCN01202-237x300.jpg "DSCN0120[2]")
This morning I finished up Gabriel’s halo and began adding the first layer of paint to the new icon. This first layer of paint is very dark, especially on the face, hair and skin and is meant to represent chaos. One might think of it as representing the first day of creation when there was light, but only the initial light of creation. The waters still covered the land and life was just beginning to take its form.
Our teacher brought things a little more close to home when she likened the writing of an icon to each Christian’s spiritual journey. We believe as Christians that God created humanity in His image and likeness. We also believe that as a result of the Fall we have tarnished His image and lost His likeness. The polishing of the clay and the gold of the halo reminds us that though we remain in God’s image, we still have to clean it up, so to speak. My own thoughts moved to the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation) and the Eucharist. Together, these sacraments of Christian initiation set us at the beginning of the path that leads to God. But it doesn’t end there. There is still an entire lifetime of struggling to lead a life of holiness, of asking God’s help in restoring us to His likeness.
![DSCN0124[1]](http://www.blessedisthekingdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/DSCN01241-230x300.jpg "DSCN0124[1]")
In iconography the beginning of this journey is symbolized with the painting of the red line around the halo. Then, other colors are added, but still within the level of chaos. At the beginning of our Christian lives there remains a lack of order as we strive to understand how to live our lives in accordance to God’s will. There is a lingering darkness, and a need for a more illumined heart. These first steps toward a more ordered soul are represented in iconography by the first lines. The process involves bringing the original lines that were etched into the board back to the surface with paint.
When I left the studio today, Gabriel was left between pure chaos and the first lines that will begin to establish order. It was a good reminder to me that we are all a work in progress, but also for my own need to daily order my life more closely to Christ.
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