Image of God?

I have found that I really don't do good brain work in my office, and home is too distracting, so I tend to do my best sermon study and writing in coffee shops and other public places. In an effort to cut down on expenses, I have taken to studying at my local library - it's free, as long as I bring my own coffee and nibbles with me.

But at this local library, from time to time the most amazingly annoying junior-high boy comes to work with his tutor. He clearly struggles academically, but that's now what bothers me (that part actually attracts me).

What I find simultaneously fascinating and repellent about this young man is his white-boy, wanna-be-a-gangster, high-whine, arrogance-based-on-adolescent-insecurity attitude. His tutor has the patience of Job (which I have personally told her), though just as clearly she is not without her own issues.

But when he walked in just a few minutes ago, what convicted me was that he, too, is created in the image of God. He, too, has an innate capacity for beauty and glory. He too was created to be blessed and to bless. He too was intended by God not to attempt to swagger through life, but to create and build up and renew the creation around him.

I'm not sure what to do with all this. Certainly I'm on the lookout for further opportunities to encourage (contra the dark looks from others). But perhaps it's as much a matter of being aware of where my own heart is, and staying in touch with God's heart for those he places me near.