His Creation...

I sit here in my beautiful garden, on a day that celebrates creation and the one who made it. Our little patch of paradise continues to be a place I am constantly amazed is ours. All I prayed for was a little pocket of garden I could sit with him in, and he answered with such a lavish gift!

It turns my mind to what he has made, from the intricate beauties our eyes cannot see without magnification, to the explosion of colour and light that scatters across our universe, only visible with powerful telescopes! We are only aware of so much - there is an abundance not yet known! How incredible it all is!

And the way it all dances together! This is no random collection of chaotic pieces! This is a creation of precision!! It makes my heart smile at the one who dreamed it up. The greatest of artists! Who saw what he had made, and called it "Very good." He poured his heart into his work, and he loved the result! He meant it to be beautiful for us!

And we - we were his crowning creation! Made in his likeness!!! Not physically - but with his characteristics!! Split between male and female. Every one of the millions of us here designed to be completely unique!!! No double-ups!!! Even between "identical" siblings!! No two are exactly the same. Have you thought of the odds of that?? Every single one a unique child of God. Somehow he made it so that's the way DNA would work.

A beautiful perfect world with all the expression of his character (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - Galatians 5:22, 23) in the caretakers he had placed here. Perfection. "Very good". I imagine his artist's heart glowing.

But we did something dumb. We didn't want him as the boss anymore. We wanted to run things our way. And look where it's all come. Greed is rampant, destroying our world and the people in it. There is brokenness, decay, sickness and misery everywhere we look, although we do our best to close our eyes to it. And when we do see it, we blame God for it!! As though he was the one who made it that way!!!

No - when he made it, it was "good". This is what we have done. I see his artist's heart broken for what has happened to his beautiful work. And for the brokenness that we have become. We were so far gone that we didn't even recognise him when he came in human form to try to save us!! We beat him and took his life too!!

Yet somehow the purity of his love holds strong. For his broken and messed up masterpiece. His plan is still to redeem and restore all that he possibly can. To bring it back to the perfection it once was. With life lived his way again.

God of creation. God of rescue and redemption. It's still a work in progress, but his plan is still on track. And this day celebrates both. ❤️

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