As we turned the corner into 2022, I felt a deep longing for order. I wanted the piles of books in my bedroom turned into tidy and categorized areas on shelves. I wanted the holiday decorations placed neatly in labeled bins. I wanted my closet purged of the clothes I haven’t worn in years. I wanted the to-do list complete.
I also started reading Genesis 1 as we began this new year. And I noticed what many commentators have pointed out. That God brings order out of chaos. There is deep darkness and formlessness and emptiness, and into that chaotic void God speaks. Then God separates in an orderly way, the light from the darkness, the sky from the waters, the waters from the earth.
But God’s work is not order for the sake of order.
It is order for the sake of abundant life. Order for the sake of goodness and creativity and fullness.
The first three days of creation set up the second three days. On day one, the light is separated from the darkness, and then on day four, the heavens are filled with sun and moon and stars. On day two, the sky is separated from the waters, and then on day five, they are filled with birds and fish. On day three, the waters are separated from the earth, and then on day six the earth is filled with animals and humans. Then God blesses the animals and the humans.
God brings order out of chaos in order to create the space for blessing.
So I come back to my piles of books and the wayward items that seem to hover in corners and on flat surfaces throughout our home. I come back to my desire for order. And I am encouraged to take the time to put things in order, to create space for abundance.
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