god-make-a-fresh-start-in-me

Good Morning…

One line lingers from yesterday’s post: God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life (Psalm 51:10, MSG).

Chaos. During times of loss, grief, transition, we know the experience and we hate the word. Her synonyms often grow like unwanted weeds. Disrupted disarray. Uprooted upheaval. Tumultuous turmoil. A muddled mess of maybes.

I find it encouraging that our universe was birthed through chaos. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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 (Genesis 1:1-2, NIV).

When we sense ourselves swimming in deep darkness, we yearn for the safety of solid ground. Exhausted by emptiness, we crave a fresh start. We beg, “God, please shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.”

What is a Genesis week? In the book of Genesis, from nothing God creates everything, journeying from chaos to calm clarity. Here is the account of God’s day by day process (Genesis 1:1-2:2).

Day One: God speaks light into the darkness, establishing the rhythm of day and night, morning and evening, honoring the passage of time.
Day Two: God creates space, setting a boundary between the heavenly waters and the earthly waters, naming the expansive space “sky.”
Day Three: God divides the earthly waters, exposing dry ground, separating sea from land, sprouting from the soil seed-bearing plants.
Day Four: God invites the sun to govern the day, the moon/stars to govern the night, marking days, years, and seasons with varying levels of light.
Day Five: God spawns a fruitful multiplication of fish to fill the sea and a wide array of birds to blanket the air.
Day Six: God births all kinds of animals, wild and tame, then finally makes mini-Me humans as caretakers of this new, “very good” creation.
Day Seven: God finishes His work of creating and then He rests, blessing the seventh day, making it holy.

When we are grieving a loss, going through transition, or sensing a spiritual awakening, what might God’s gift of a Genesis week look like to us?

1) Enveloped in formless chaos, we sense our way through light and dark, day and night, morning and evening, honoring the passage of time.
2) Looking up to the sky, we pause, pray, and ponder the sacred space between heaven and earth.
3) Gradually the drowning waters are parted. Our bare feet are placed on fertile ground and our open eyes expect seeds of new life to sprout.
4) We trust that a form of God’s light is always with us; sun, moon, and stars illuminate our passing days, years, and seasons.
5) With fruitful multiplication happening everywhere, we become keenly aware of the various forms of life, visible and invisible, known and unknown.
6) We begin to wonder: “What living beings am I made in God’s image to care for during this new season of my life?”
7) Following the pattern of our First Father, we balance our creative work with holy rest, resting with the God who creates calm clarity from chaos.