today is the day, genesis 1-5. such familiar passages to most of us (even non-believers who have heard anything of creation, adam and eve, and the beginnings of noah). a few weeks ago i was admiring my sister's project with my nephews - making a visual of creation. she had each day sectioned out as a square and images painted of what happened on that "day". as i looked at it i became more and more ashamed of how much i forgot in regard to creation. i couldn't say what happened on which day. how many times did i learn that in elementary school and sunday school only to forget it now?
like i said, i don't want to rush through any of the readings. otherwise it will just go in one ear and out the other, as the expression goes. as i read these first few chapters of the bible i was struck by a number of details. i realize how vague a lot of the details are, how much is left to the imagination. i think this has been the root of a lot of questions and divisions among people in considering exactly how the creation story played out. i would be lying if i said i weren't a bit curious myself.
by the second verse of the second chapter i already have a question. it says "now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters." what waters? on the first day God creates light and dark, but note that the sun, moon and stars are not created until day four. what produced the light on the first day? i know, anything is possible. we are talking about an indescribable God here. this reminds me of the video series by louie giglio. in either 'how great is our God' or 'indescribable', giglio points out that while we think we would want to have been there to witness it, we would not want to be there when light poured out of God's mouth at (insert large number here) light years per second. my questions could go on and on. who is cain married to, when his wife is referenced in chapter 4? i assume it had to be a sister, though not mentioned specifically as adam and eve's child, since there were no other humans. the questions could go on and on, but i won't dwell on them. they don't need answers in order for me to have faith, or for my faith to grow.
i am struck by one thing that carries into my every day and can be applied to my life (not limited to one thing, of course, but one thing at this moment). time. our concept of time is so limited. notice the years lived by adam and his decendents - 930, 912, 905, 910, etc. notice when many of them had their first child - 130, 105, 90, 70, etc. creation in 7 days (6 since the last day was rest). 130 years for adam to have a child. my view of time is so limited and so skewed.
lately i have been struggling with time in my life. to be perfectly honest, i didn't think i would be where i am now when i was 18 years old. even at 22 when i graduated college, i didn't imagine my life as it is now. i can get frustrated with feeling like i am almost 30 and haven't even really started my life yet (by societal standards). if it were up to me, i would have landed a comfortable and enjoyable joy by now. i would probably be married and have a child or two, even a dog. i wouldn't be living with my parents and be going back to school with very unstable finances. it isn't what i projected for myself. it might not always be what i want even now.
but it is part of God's plan, with His timing. what society tells me i should be doing doesn't matter. where i feel like i should be by now doesn't even matter. He has me in His hands and is bringing me to where He wants me to be. He is using each and every person and experience to shape me. my life hasn't not started (sorry for the double negative). my life has been going for almost 30 years and this is just a small part of it. but it is here and it is now, and i embrace it. it may not always be what i expected or think is best for me, but it is exactly what God wants for me and knows is best for me.
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