beginnings are so full of hope, latent potential waiting in the wings. that is what i feel reading the first chapter of genesis. hope, excitement for the future, dreams for what can be all jump at me from the poetry that is genesis 1. six times God looks at his creation and says it is good. affirmation is repeated throughout the poem. "Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!"
as the hope found in those verses jumped at me i began to ponder how in just two chapters the story would take a tragic turn. those hopes would be crushed. God's very good would be smeared with rebellion and blood. i thought about how this is the way life is for us: so often our hopes and dreams come falling down around us in the reality of the everyday crush. there is often not much that seems "very good."
and yet, this is our beginning. we have been lovingly made by a creator and called "very good." his smile frames our existence and his hopes for us dance in our dreams. we can remember where we have come from, how this story began, and hope can be restored through Christ's presence in our present. this story had a very good beginning. the middle has been sullied, but the story does not end with the middle. there is a climax leading to and ending more glorious than the beginning. redemptive time will end and all will be made new.
until then i will let my looking back inform my looking forward and find the hope that leads me to let Christ unleash that latent potential placed in me at the beginning for my life now.
10.31.2007
genesis 1
10.22.2007
disciplines
i almost shut this thing down. i haven't had much in the way of motivation to write. my apologies to those of you who have been looking for updates into our lives. here's a quick summary of what's going on right now:
- gabe took his first steps. we are having a blast watching him grow. he's such a toddler now.
- i went with garry to the 2007 international rock paper scissors tournament in toronto. we both went out in the first round, but our friend nathan made it all the way to the top 16 (out of about 500). we had a blast cheering him on and living vicariously through his victory. pictures are here.
- karen has finished her maternity leave and is in full swing teaching grade one again. she is commuting to belleville (about 45-50 minutes) and is not really enjoying being away from gabe.
- i quit roofing to stay home to take care of gabe. i do not miss roofing. i do enjoy spending my days with the boy. i am still working part-time at rustle.
- the band i'm playing in had our first gig this past friday night. it was a blast and there was a good crowd. hope they enjoyed it!
- my cd is almost finished. about time! i'll let you know more when i know more.
i'm struggling to get back into some kind of spiritual discipline habit. it's tough. i'm going to try two things: 1) reading scripture, although instead of just reading a bit every day with no rhyme nor reason and getting bored i am going to try sticking with one book for a while. reading a bit at a time, sometimes a verse, sometimes the whole book, sometimes a commentary, sometimes some study into it. i find i enjoy understanding how context helps with understanding. i enjoy seeing ideas fit together in helping me understand God and life. i am hoping this approach helps breathe some life into a discipline that at times has been very dry for me. 2) i am going to try to journal my thoughts through this process here, at least 2 or 3 times a week. this will help me process my thoughts by the effort of putting them into sentences and paragraphs, and hopefully be a beneficial discipline. you are invited to help keep me accountable to this by reminding me if i haven't posted in a week or more.
