And God saw that is was good.

"Let there be light. Let there be love. Let there be music." - Andrew Peterson

I just finished a Bible study with my church on Genesis. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Actually, I just love Genesis. It is easily one of my favorite books in the Bible. I love the Patriarchs. I love the drama. I love to watch humanity unfold. Cain and Able make my heart hurt. Rebecca and Issac make me sigh. Sarai makes me laugh. Joseph and his brothers frustrate me.

And the creation story- well that just gives me hope. The entire first chapter of Genesis is pure poetry to my soul.

You see, Genesis starts out with God creating the heavens and the earth. God starts out His story to us and for us by calling forth light from darkness, creating the sun, moon, stars. Imagining animals into beings and blooming flowers into existence.

Can you imagine what it would have been like to be there? The colors. The sounds. The moment that this thing called light shone for the first time? The brightness? The smell as grass grew newly and the waves rolled that first wave upon the shore? I can barely contain my excitment just thinking about it.

God lovingly creating this world piece by pieces, layer by layer, moment by moment. Slowly, gradually creating this masterpiece which is creation.

I like to think He did it like painters do. Brush stroke by brushstroke- pausing in between to step back and look over the creation- sighing with contentment cause the art is good.

Now all that I've said so far are definitely reasons I love the creation story but... the real icing on the cake is something else. It's like that unexpected twist in the plot of your favorite novel. Or a surprise ending in a movie.

Genesis 1:27 " So God created them in His own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female."

Did you catch it? "In His own image." Beautiful. Wonderful. Incredible.

God created us, humanity- the crown of His creation, the final brushstroke of His masterpiece, in His own image.

I don't presume to assume what that means for everyone else, but for me that is one of the greatest promises I have as a creation of the King.

I am created in His own image. Meaning- that spark of creation that drove Him to call forth light from dark, to grow flowers in fields of oblivion, to make fish swim in void seas....I was created in that image. With that same spark, that same kind of creative power residing in me.

Now- I'm fully aware that unless I have one heck of a Maglite I can't quite call forth actual light from dark.

But I like to think that everytime I comfort a hurting heart, or hug a confused soul, or offer solace to a suffering friend- that that might actually be my own way of calling forth light from dark. My own kind of creation. Helping create an environment of love, peace, joy, assurance.

Maybe that image of God in me, the fingerprint of Him upon my soul, that spark of the Creator that resides within me- maybe that is the purpose it serves.

That everytime I act to create the presence of God's good in the midst of bad, or work to bring God's light into a dark place that this is my continuation of Genesis 1.

You see to me the beauty of the creation story is that it continues on within us. That it is a living and active story and its our lives and actions that write it.

And I truly hope I'm creating something that God can pronounce good in the end.