Genesis 1
20And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." 21So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
20And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." 21So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
***
And suddenly, the earth is teeming with life. What was formless has now become something that carries and holds glorious abundance. Life. In all varieties. Startling in its diversity and its uniqueness, in the factors required for it to even happen.
Be fruitful and multiply. Life begets life. It's not a one-off, but a beginning of a life-ridden story; next generations will follow. God is shown setting in motion cycles of growth and reproduction.
I'm struck by how the idea of cycles and seasons transplant that dark structurelessness of the first verses. Even the structure of the way the story is told - morning then evening, introduces a rhythm to it all, a feeling of the cyclical. The circle of life, if I may use such a familiar phrase.
The earth is filled with the living - the seas, the skies, the ground.
Our living planet takes my breath away.
No comments:
Post a Comment