Listen

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Genesis 1:1–8

Think

A Sunday school teacher decided to have the class re-enact the Creation. This required the children to portray animals and plant life. One six-year-old, called Jonathan, was assigned to stand on a ladder and shine a flashlight on the scene. He was to represent God. Just about the time the creeping things were crawling over the swimming things, the teacher felt a tug on her skirt. It was God. He wanted out. “I’m just feeling too crazy to be God today,” said Jonathan. “Could you get somebody else?” (Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted)

The opening verses of Genesis, one might observe, describe an orderly, light-filled moment. On the other hand, God’s creational work shows a certain messiness, with the wind whooshing across the face of the waters. Like water-games with preschoolers, it’s controlled chaos at best. Some say God created something out of nothing in the beginning. But that’s not right. God begins to bring order out of what’s already there.

Feeling too crazy to be in control of things today? Offer the disorder to God as an offering and God will blow a spirit wind over it. Then wait.

Valerie Burton

Pray

For the disorderliness of life and for the One who creates in the midst of it, I give praise and thanks. For you, O God, are hovering above the fray, whispering us into becoming who we are. 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.