Today I’m thinking about the book of Genesis.
Imagine God in the beginning
with a most MAGNIFICENT idea,
“Let’s CREATE Something”.
But what to create…
What would be worthy of creation?
Any mere physical OBJECT,
or even a complete SYSTEM,
no matter how beautiful or intricate,
no matter how complex or how ingenious,
no matter how imaginative,
would be rather pointless
without someone to APPRECIATE it.
Would God be satisfied with the result of such an effort?
Sitting back to watch a wind-up toy of His own devices?
Consider the world we find ourselves in,
and imagine it the way it is,
but without PEOPLE.
It would still be a marvelous accomplishment!
It would still be a self-contained system
supporting all the needs of life.
Countless forms of life,
mingling and reproducing and adapting
to carry forward into the future.
A JEWEL in the cosmos,
energized by the sun.
Obviously, a world brimming with life
(even without people)
is a stunning feat.
A self-replicating, self-sustaining system?
In perpetual harmony, generation after generation?
What an ACCOMPLISHMENT!
But WHO would know about it?
Animals could never grasp the glory of such a work.
A living system without mankind
would pale in comparison
to the creation of self-aware
individually conscious beings
possessing the means of APPRECIATING it.
Someone possessing the ability to compose THESE WORDS,
for example.
INFINITELY more valuable than mere living and dying.
So, after populating the world with plants and animals
and everything else required to sustain life,
He adds the icing on the cake.…
ME !
….created in his own image.
Dare I consider myself as His companion eventually?
Someone to relate?
In the beginning,
the only thing withheld
was the knowledge of good and evil.
Preserving innocence.
And then taking time
to rest in the glow of such a glorious work.
Perfect.
But events soon spiral out of control.
His one request
to avoid eating the fruit
of the knowledge of good and evil
becomes our first independent act!
An act of FREE WILL.
And He realizes that starting INSIDE the garden,
in His presence,
is a recipe for failure
This act of Free Will only moves us AWAY from Him.
Might it be better to re-arrange the system?
Where an act of will could bring one TOWARDS God?
Instead of away from Him?
So, He pushes us out of the garden.
We start over there.
Removed.
Outsiders.
Better to have us start outside
and then DECIDE to come closer, right?
To WANT to live in communion with Him.
(Have YOU decided yet?)
Thanks for sharing this time with me,
and may God bless you
.
.
.