We are studying the Old Testament in Sunday School this year, and today we talked about the Creation. I personally had never found the creation to be that interesting. I had often heard it and I only looked at it for face value without considering it very deeply.
Today I looked at it differently. And it is changing my perspective.
The record we have of the creation is a very condensed description of what must have been a long and detailed process. But what we are told is that God spoke, and it was. God said that things should be a certain way, and then they happened exactly as he said, and he pronounced them "good."
What we are not told, however, is what happened in between when he spoke and when it happened. We presume that it was instantaneous. What occurred to me today is that it was a process. He spoke, and he didn't finish creating the thing until it was exactly as he had set out to do. It was a process of becoming exactly right. He was patient and diligent until the end.
What if God had acted as so many of us do? What if he had conceived this great idea, started with fervor, got slowly discouraged or lost excitement, and stopped half way through the process to go start something else? We wouldn't be here! The earth wouldn't exist! But that's NOT what happened. He had an idea, he planned it, and he saw it through to its completion. And he didn't settle for a mediocre job, either. He fulfilled his plans, making the earth exactly as he wanted to, and pronounced it good.
And we should do likewise. Each of us is in the process of creation. In the big picture, we are creating the people we want to be. Part of that is the other goals we set for ourselves. The end has not yet come. We cannot give up. We must press forward until things are complete, in the way we have planned. There is no need for frenzied haste, but there is a need for patience and diligent work, constantly progressing until we reach our goal.
In my faith, we believe that each of us should take God for our example and try to be like Him. This is one way we can do so. We can set goals. We can finish what we start. We can create.
