May 2

Crafted

            In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 

                                        - Genesis 2:4-7

Everyone knows the story of Creation from Genesis 1:  ”In the Beginning…”  However there is a second accounting of Creation in Genesis 2.  It is not contradicting the previous version; it is a different perspective that shows the Creator in a different light.

Genesis 1 is all about God’s power.  With a word He spoke reality into existence.  He speaks and creates light!  His words bring earth and sea and creature into being!  Genesis 2 gives us a picture of God’s closeness…His intimacy.  The picture is that the Almighty gets down into the dirt and sculpts His child with his own hands.  Then He leans in and breathes into the mouth of Adam, creating life.  This is not power from a distance, it is as close and personal and messy as it gets.

You have been hand-crafted by God.  Those that you love have been hand-crafted by God, made for a specific time and a specific place, to be gifted to a specific family and to bring a specific light to this world.  Truth be told I am not sure whether this is more comforting or disturbing to me.  My son does not have autism because God was distracted by some global crisis and made a mistake.  He does not have autism because God was powerless to stop it or because He just didn’t know or care how challenging that would make our lives.  I believe…with all my heart I believe…that God looked at my wife and I…he looked at our community and and He said, “Do you know what would make the world better?   A child given to James and Carina.  A child filled with wonder and love.  A child whose physical senses are as hypersensitive as his heart.  A child who will teach them love and joy and patience and hope and draw them closer to me.”  Our son was hand-crafted by a Master and our world is a better place for it.

Throughout all of Scripture, these are the two attributes of God that are revealed over and over and over again.  He is Power and He is Intimacy.  Both.  At the same time.  When we lose sight of either of them, we lose sight of the fullness of who God is.

A moment to reflect:

Concerning the idea that created you and the ones that you care about…Is that idea more encouraging because God looked at the world and knew it would be better with you in it?  Or is it more troubling because He created individuals with broken bodies, souls and minds?  Both responses are fine because both can bring us closer to the One who created us.