Planet Perfection

I’m currently reading a novel by Richard Powers called Bewilderment. It’s about an astrophysicist who is struggling with his (possibly) autistic son following his wife’s death. One of the things they do together is “travel to” imaginary planets that the father has created with his scientific expertise. The author has created each planet as an allegory for what’s happening in the characters’ lives.

To me, what stands out is this: it’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for a planet to have everything going for it to support life. Many of the planets come close, but then meteors take out all life. Or the planet is freezing on one side, and burning up on the other. Or the length of a day is such that it physically cannot support life as we know it. While reading these descriptions in the book, the thought occurred to me that God has created an earth for us that is JUST RIGHT. We may not feel that way sometimes, but when we stop to appreciate how life on earth keeps going, albeit changing as it goes, we should feel a sense of awe.

Here is the passage from Genesis 1 in The Message, where God creates the earth. I like the phrase “And there it was” used after each day’s work, and “God saw that it was good” is almost unchanged in all biblical translations.

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

God spoke: “Light!”

    And light appeared.

God saw that light was good

    and separated light from dark.

God named the light Day,

    he named the dark Night.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day One.

God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;

    separate water from water!”

God made sky.

He separated the water under sky

    from the water above sky.

And there it was:

    he named sky the Heavens;

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Two.God spoke: “Separate!

    Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;

Land, appear!”

    And there it was.

God named the land Earth.

    He named the pooled water Ocean.

God saw that it was good.

God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties

    of seed-bearing plants,

Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”

    And there it was.

Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,

    all varieties,

And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.

    God saw that it was good.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Three.

God spoke: “Lights! Come out!

    Shine in Heaven’s sky!

Separate Day from Night.

    Mark seasons and days and years,

Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”

    And there it was.

God made two big lights, the larger

    to take charge of Day,

The smaller to be in charge of Night;

    and he made the stars.

God placed them in the heavenly sky

    to light up Earth

And oversee Day and Night,

    to separate light and dark.

God saw that it was good.

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Four.

God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!

    Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”

God created the huge whales,

    all the swarm of life in the waters,

And every kind and species of flying birds.

    God saw that it was good.

God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!

    Birds, reproduce on Earth!”

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Five.

God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:

    cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”

And there it was:

    wild animals of every kind,

Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.

    God saw that it was good.

God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them

    reflecting our nature

So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,

    the birds in the air, the cattle,

And, yes, Earth itself,

    and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”

God created human beings;

    he created them godlike,

Reflecting God’s nature.

    He created them male and female.

God blessed them:

    “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!

Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,

    for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” 

Then God said, “I’ve given you

    every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth

And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,

    given them to you for food.

To all animals and all birds,

    everything that moves and breathes,

I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”

    And there it was.

God looked over everything he had made;

    it was so good, so very good!

It was evening, it was morning—

Day Six.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for this earth you have created. Help us look with new eyes and not take what you have designed for granted. Help us to care for this planet that we call home. Amen.

Donna Gustafson