Listen

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

Genesis 1:20–23

Think

“I can do it all by myself!” says my youngest child about tying his shoes or getting dressed. Teenagers say it about making decisions and finding their own way. I say it when I have a problem to solve or a conflict to settle. We all say it when we don’t want to ask for help.

But as we read in the telling of the Creation, God chooses not to take this approach. Instead it is God’s choice to include, to catch up the creatures along the way. Let the created participate with God in new creations: let the waters bring forth; let the earth bring forth. God invites the waters and the earth and you and me into the creative process.

Even today, the invitation is open to us to join as partners with God in continuing to create, to bring forth. What is within you that the Artist wants to draw out? What new thing is waiting to come to life if you will but accept God as a creative partner? There is beauty and blessing in creating something new together.

Valerie Burton

Pray

God, keep inviting and I will join you. Keep calling and I will come. Catch me up on what you’re doing and where you’re working in this world, so that I can partner with you. Amen.

Go

Can you feel that movement, the ever-present hand of the ever-present God? The Creator is at work in you, for you, and through you. Go now to join in the newness that is afoot all around.