Today is the first day of the rest of your eternal life. I hope your New Year is every bit as beautiful as the promise. Titus 1:2 In body I feel like I have worked in Showbiz... Showbiz Pizza that is, as one of those moles in the whack-a-mole games. You know...sledge hammer...
Had a good service at church. I had the black-eyed peas in the slow cooker. Then after church, Travis set the table for me and made a pitcher of black tea for himself, while I cooked a pot of collard greens and the cornbread, macaroni, and baked potatoes, and simmered another pot of wassail. This all took about an hour, and by the time Larry and I had the food on the table and sat down for our New Years dinner, we realized Travis was sound asleep. Anybody who knows him, knows he sleeps like he is in a coma. He had not had any sleep, but had been up all night after the new year. So, Larry and I ate a dinner alone together. Though I missed Travis somewhat, our first time not having New Years dinner together, it felt kind of like a date eating alone with my husband :)
I had no energy left for the dishes after all the cooking. It took a half hour to clear the table and pack up the leftovers with Larry's help. Then we had company over for a little while, and I have been comatose myself in my recliner ever since. Didn't even make it to the evening service with Larry. So, the dishes are piled in the sink, and the sun has disappeared from the sky. They will sleep in the sink tonight. Nobody ever died from having a sink full of dirty dishes.
Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
We have just finished our first day of the year 2012, though we do it just the opposite of Jewish tradition with the evening being the first half of a day period, and the morning being the second half. Here in this verse in Genesis, the definition for a day is established for reference throughout the rest of the chapter. And, the words are repeated a total of six times (5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31.) But, at the end of this first day, God looks around at what He has done, and is the first to say that what He saw was good. (See verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) Therefore, I am a plagiarist when I tell you that God's world is very good. I stole those words from the Creator Himself. But, if you are still reading after I have "fetched a compass" around the point, then I would like to point out some observations about the first and second days of eternity.
God began with big plans. He started out on Day One of Eternity by turning on the light, so He could get to work. He had a universe in mind, and you and I in design stage, just like a young married couple trying to conceive their first child. They have a plan. They want a baby. They take steps to encourage that child into this world and their arms. They have big plans. They expect to need diapers, a crib, and many other things for this child. So, they both set to work making a place for this child in their world. "Daddy" did just that for us. He had big plans. He designed a world for us.
At this point, the earth was created, a spinning ball of water, warbling through the universe. On Day Two, God created an outer atmosphere around the earth, by causing some of the water on the planet to evaporate into an outer band swaddling the earth. This swaddling band of oxygen was called heaven... our sky. Without that, our view would be that of black space, like on the moon. At some later point (the Flood) God would bring these waters from the outer layer into a world wide deluge, removing our protection from the sun's harsher rays, expanding the oceans around the continents, and shortening our average life span. But, at that moment in time, we had a layer of water in the outer atmosphere. And, that was the end of Day Two's work for God. Strikingly, to me, is the absence of God saying that it was good, as He did on each of the other days of Creation, (and twice on the third and sixth days.) I can't help but notice, while I picture our Father God creating a swaddling band around the planet for us, that He knew we would sin. He perceived ahead that we would fall. He was silent in this knowledge, no commentary. He had big plans, yet those plans included redemption from the fall.
Now, when I planned my first child, I didn't plan the playground fights or the black eyes. I didn't plan the embarrassments or spilt milk. I certainly didn't plan the teenage rebellion and angry words. And, I thought I wanted to be a mother. What I wanted was to love a child. God would give me that opportunity to love. It included the challenges. Not our heavenly Father. He did the work of Day Two with the foreknowledge of a Fall, a Flood, a Crucifixion, a Resurrection, and a Second Advent. Acts 2:23 and Revelation 13:8. God knew the challenges of loving his children before He created them. And, He created us yet. Imagine that kind of love!
Now that you've thought about Day One and Day Two of Eternity, think about the fact that today is Day One, not just of 2012, but of the Rest of Eternity. Make it an Eternity with God. Take hold of your promising future, my brother and sister in Creation. It is very good!
Had a good service at church. I had the black-eyed peas in the slow cooker. Then after church, Travis set the table for me and made a pitcher of black tea for himself, while I cooked a pot of collard greens and the cornbread, macaroni, and baked potatoes, and simmered another pot of wassail. This all took about an hour, and by the time Larry and I had the food on the table and sat down for our New Years dinner, we realized Travis was sound asleep. Anybody who knows him, knows he sleeps like he is in a coma. He had not had any sleep, but had been up all night after the new year. So, Larry and I ate a dinner alone together. Though I missed Travis somewhat, our first time not having New Years dinner together, it felt kind of like a date eating alone with my husband :)
I had no energy left for the dishes after all the cooking. It took a half hour to clear the table and pack up the leftovers with Larry's help. Then we had company over for a little while, and I have been comatose myself in my recliner ever since. Didn't even make it to the evening service with Larry. So, the dishes are piled in the sink, and the sun has disappeared from the sky. They will sleep in the sink tonight. Nobody ever died from having a sink full of dirty dishes.
Genesis 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
We have just finished our first day of the year 2012, though we do it just the opposite of Jewish tradition with the evening being the first half of a day period, and the morning being the second half. Here in this verse in Genesis, the definition for a day is established for reference throughout the rest of the chapter. And, the words are repeated a total of six times (5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31.) But, at the end of this first day, God looks around at what He has done, and is the first to say that what He saw was good. (See verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31) Therefore, I am a plagiarist when I tell you that God's world is very good. I stole those words from the Creator Himself. But, if you are still reading after I have "fetched a compass" around the point, then I would like to point out some observations about the first and second days of eternity.
God began with big plans. He started out on Day One of Eternity by turning on the light, so He could get to work. He had a universe in mind, and you and I in design stage, just like a young married couple trying to conceive their first child. They have a plan. They want a baby. They take steps to encourage that child into this world and their arms. They have big plans. They expect to need diapers, a crib, and many other things for this child. So, they both set to work making a place for this child in their world. "Daddy" did just that for us. He had big plans. He designed a world for us.
At this point, the earth was created, a spinning ball of water, warbling through the universe. On Day Two, God created an outer atmosphere around the earth, by causing some of the water on the planet to evaporate into an outer band swaddling the earth. This swaddling band of oxygen was called heaven... our sky. Without that, our view would be that of black space, like on the moon. At some later point (the Flood) God would bring these waters from the outer layer into a world wide deluge, removing our protection from the sun's harsher rays, expanding the oceans around the continents, and shortening our average life span. But, at that moment in time, we had a layer of water in the outer atmosphere. And, that was the end of Day Two's work for God. Strikingly, to me, is the absence of God saying that it was good, as He did on each of the other days of Creation, (and twice on the third and sixth days.) I can't help but notice, while I picture our Father God creating a swaddling band around the planet for us, that He knew we would sin. He perceived ahead that we would fall. He was silent in this knowledge, no commentary. He had big plans, yet those plans included redemption from the fall.
Now, when I planned my first child, I didn't plan the playground fights or the black eyes. I didn't plan the embarrassments or spilt milk. I certainly didn't plan the teenage rebellion and angry words. And, I thought I wanted to be a mother. What I wanted was to love a child. God would give me that opportunity to love. It included the challenges. Not our heavenly Father. He did the work of Day Two with the foreknowledge of a Fall, a Flood, a Crucifixion, a Resurrection, and a Second Advent. Acts 2:23 and Revelation 13:8. God knew the challenges of loving his children before He created them. And, He created us yet. Imagine that kind of love!
Now that you've thought about Day One and Day Two of Eternity, think about the fact that today is Day One, not just of 2012, but of the Rest of Eternity. Make it an Eternity with God. Take hold of your promising future, my brother and sister in Creation. It is very good!
