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 (reprinted from 2021, but with different photos! Click on each photo to view larger. Photos taken by Donna.)
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