It Begins

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. – Genesis 1:1-4

Today is the first day of my retirement. I tried to sleep in, but that seldom happens. So I got up and actually did the zoom workout with our friends at PG Fit. I’ve toyed briefly with taking a mid-morning nap. But that looks to be replaced by other pressing issues. At this moment, my day is somewhat formed and filled. 

That is a faint echo of God’s creative work. When the heavens and earth were first created, they were “formless and void.” That was one of the first Hebrew phrases I learned, “tohu vav vohu“. The remainder of Genesis chapter one describes how God gives form to the formless, and fills that which was empty. 

That is my challenge for the days ahead. To form some sort of healthy and productive daily rhythm, and fill my hours with good things. In fact that is what God calls us all to do – within the bounds of our vocation and faith. Being made in his image, we are to reflect the work and fulfill the purposes of God. 

As you encounter this day, there may be some degree of formlessness or emptiness facing you. There are good ways and evil ways to fill and form the day before you. We all know the evil ways: pining, envying, decrying, revolting, and despairing. The good ways to fill our days are praying, meditating on God’s word, loving our neighbor and doing good to those nearby. We can also form our days with around our own self-interests and selfish pursuits. Or we can form them around the Spirit-inspired calling to love God and love our neighbor.

I hope to keep that in mind these days.