Mysteries of Creation

As I was walking along the beach in Rocky Point a few weeks ago, feeling the breeze and the sun and contemplating the endless waves and sky, a few thoughts came to me about the majesty of creation.

First let me quote the beginning of Genesis:

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. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Got saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day. And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning - second day. And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "sea." And God saw that it was good.

From there, flora and fauna, sun and moon, seasons and time, and finally people are created to fill out this vast and wonderful world. However, the part that really struck me is this - these first few acts of creation involved separating mighty things. The heavens and the earth are a spiritual and physical creation that are almost too great to grasp. The separation of day and night, of earth and sky, and of land and water are very palpable, though. (And here, I digress into Emily Chapter 1, so feel free to disagree.)

For me, some of the most memorable and spiritual experiences I have had, where my very soul seems to come to life, the details of this world are stripped away, and I am completely refreshed have happened at the cusps of these great separations. Think of it - sunrise and sunset are the times that separate the dark from light (day from night). Doesn't looking at an amazing sunset just put you in awe of the Creator? Doesn't a sunrise make you feel connected, in a spiritual sense to the original Creation? For that matter, who doesn't crave the waves along the seashore or the rippling of a brooke or the stillness of a vast lake? They make me feel as if I were there, in the beginning. There is some quiet echo of the greatness of God. And ask Leslie what it is like to stand on the top of a mountain - where the earth meets the sky. Can it be called anything but a spiritual experience? I haven't climbed actual mountains, just the small ones near our house, but there is a euphoria, a yearning, quite apart from the challenge of having done it. I think it is that space between, that tenuous connection of, the extremes from the beginning of Creation which gives us a minute glimpse at eternity.

While much of life can seem to run together in a string of activities and faces, details and places, the times that really stand out to me in a quick review of my own life are those where I am standing on the brink of Creation in all its majesty. Especially noteworthy are the experiences that combine more than one of these: sunset along a shoreline (day/night and land/water), a huge waterfall (land/water and earth/sky), an island hilltop (land/water and earth/sky), an oceanside cliff (land/water and earth/sky), sunrise on a ship (earth/sky and day/night). At these intersections, I feel as if I have just stumbled into a hole in Time where Creation mirrors the Creator who was and is and is to come.

And I can just see King David experiencing the same things in another time as he wrote in his Psalms,

"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens...When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?"

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not hear. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

"The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets."

"The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord...The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it."

"For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land."

"The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice...His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory."