Creation — A Poem

Before He had us
and all this,
before worlds and time and matter
he was at home and happy within himself;
they were full and content within themselves.
There was eternity and trinity
and endless love and joy and pleasure.

But love wants an object,
joy needs an overflow,
and pleasure is meant to be shared.
So they created.

Sometimes I imagine the universe was made from their love and music and laughter.
That they sang and stars exploded;
that they danced and laughed and worlds spun, collided, and formed;
that they kissed and we were born.

And sometimes I imagine them leaning in close,
artists–
bending, breathing, brooding;
with skill and patience
adding lines and form and color to what had been nothing;
pressing fingers into clay;
shaping, forming, turning chaos into beauty.

We were born from love,
created from fullness.
They saw us and the worlds they had made
and they looked up and their eyes crinkled in laughter
and they said, It is done! It is good!
It was.
And we were.

They rested.
And we became the craftsmen and artists.
We bent and pressed our hands into soil;
we made gardens and arbors and stories and art;
we brought completion and growth to the world.

But
we grasped for more,
more than we were meant to have.
And a great shadow fell,
a searing wound to the earth and our hearts.
We thought it was over,
the new world now old–
filled with weeds and war,
cancer and curses,
distance and death.

But love is still love is still love.
Love gives.
Love creates.
And love heals and remakes.
They didn’t let us go.
They cried and died a thousand deaths with us;
and they came to us,
become one of us and undid the distance,
walked through death and reversed the curse.

Bending, breathing, brooding
He leans over us still
remaking us, restoring our world
with the same joy He had at the first
the same patience and skill and passion.
He replants the gardens,
rebuilds the ruins,
restores the earth,
renews our hearts.

Until someday
all that has been undone will be redone,
all that is broken will be healed,
and all that is lost will be found.
The world will be all that it was ever meant to be,
and our joy and theirs
will be absolutely full and complete.
A new beginning.