What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

It Is Good
















I don't know how many times I have read the creation account of Genesis chapter 1 in my life time- but it is a lot.  I realized recently though, that up until this point, I have been missing something.  Something profound! Something pivotal to my life as a woman, as a wife, mother, homemaker, teacher, gardener, and list maker.

It goes something like this~

Day 1: God creates light and separates it from darkness.  He saw that it was good.
Day 2: God separates the waters from the firmament (heaven).
Day 3: God separated the dry ground from the waters and called them Earth and Seas.  He saw that it was good. He brought forth grass, herbs and fruit trees and saw that it was good.
Day 4: He made the lights in the heavens~ the sun, the moon, the stars and set them in the firmament and saw that it was good.
Day 5: God filled the seas with all manner of living things and He created all manner of flying creatures and God saw that it was good.
Day 6: God brought forth living creatures and beasts of the Earth.  He saw that it was good.  He created man and woman in His likeness and blessed them and He saw it was very good.
Day 7: He rested.

Do you see that?

God, who could knit bones together with breathe and form whales to frolick in waves with mere words, might have easily spoken a word and everything, from sea mist to tyrannosaurus, dust to people, galaxies to glaciers would have been formed.  In a single word.  Why didn't He?

For the same reason that He rested on the Sabbath.  God who can breathe life in one utterance- who does not sleep and does not abandon and does not cease and is always present and all knowing and all powerful- does not need rest.  He did so, I believe, to show us how to live.

He, who could have been finished with the creation of this world and of very life with a single breath, chose instead to work in increments for us, knowing that we must work little by little. He chose to rest on the Sabbath, knowing that we would need rest.

And this is the part that I have always missed...

God knew that Day 1 wasn't how He wanted His completed creation.  He knew there would be changes to make tomorrow.  But He declared "It is good."

He was satisfied!  Even though things were left undone, even though things were not 'just so' or perfectly finished...He was content with the day and it was GOOD.

This is a lesson I needed to hear and a lesson I need to imbibe.

I begin each day with a mental (and often, paper) list of things that should be/must be done and I begin in earnest almost immediately.  After a day of doing, when I finally lay my weary bones in bed, I begin to think of all that was left undone and all that will be required the next day and the list is just as long, if not longer, than when I first began.

 In those late evenings laying in bed with a mind full of tomorrow's to-do's, I often dream of a day where I could do nothing at all... a day like that lives with the brownies and fairies in the forest- things you enjoy thinking about but realize don't actually happen.

It can be extremely frustrating for me that I never seem to get ahead though I work so hard at trying!  That I seem to always be struggling just to keep up- with homeschooling, with the gardening, with the house, with life. That I have to fight to stay one step behind instead of ten steps behind.

But perhaps there is good in that.  Perhaps there can still be PEACE in that.

If God was content on Day 3 without any zebras or flamingos or pineapples or the sun, then I ought to be content with the work I have been able to accomplish...whether or not it is perfect or even completed. And I can look forward to a new dawn to begin again, knowing that each day I have been given will be filled with new and exciting ways to bring glory to God.

God doesn't expect us to finish.  He expects us to be content in the working.

At the end of the day, when I see a long list of things to do tomorrow~ I am going to try very hard from now on to look at what I accomplished in the day, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant or how incomplete, and be able to declare with a triumpant voice that it was good.

15 comments:

Jill Foley said...

So timely...just last night I got several hours worth of work done on a project I've been meaning to do since December. I told my husband, "It feels so good to have that almost done." To which he replied... "I would never say that. I would have to be completely finished for it to feel good."

But it's true...having a big chunk of it done feels good. It is good! I'll get the rest done when I have time, but it feels so good to have quite a bit of it done.

Carissa Anne said...

Beautifully Said...

Mrs. Bowen said...

I recently started to truly rest one day a week- minimal cooking, no washing dishes or folding laundry. I try to use some of that day for fun stuff that I often put aside like scrapbooking or drawing or playing games with the family. It has been so very good for my outlook and mood.

Kimberly said...

What a beautiful reminder and beautifully said. Thank you.

lydia.purple said...

thank you for sharing this. there is a lot of things to learn from that passage... God worked day by day little by little, but he had a final plan in mind, a vision of what he wanted. he did not just randomly mess around. yet it seems there was spontanity too, because he called it good on the sixth day after making the animals, but then he came up with 'let's make man in our image' and he created man and it was VERY GOOD.' how amazing is that? and then of course the rest on the sabbath. how he knew how all of his creation needs that. how he gave this day to us, so we can rest between the weeks that are full of good work, that will never be all done. yet, in his amazing love and grace for us he permits us to take a day off, to rest and to enjoy the fruit of the good work we have done. i think there is a real freedom and blessing in taking the sabbath off. and there is great blessing in working hard 6 days a week. both are part of the commandment to keep the Lord's sabbath.

Unknown said...

Gosh, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that today! As a result I am going to bed (it's 9pm here in the UK) and I'm going to tell myself that my labours have been good today.
Thank you!

Stefanie said...

Ah-men!

Michelle H said...

"It is very good," were words we clung to as well, but in a very different light. It was those words that helped us when the road of infertility felt just too overwhelming. It was in those moments that we reminded ourselves that back in the beginning, the first marriage created was seen as "very good", even though God had not blessed the marriage of Adam and Eve with children (yet). Maybe we took those words out of context, but they sure gave us a lot of comfort to know that although we did not have children, our marriage still served a purpose in God's kingdom, and most importantly, our marriage in the Lord was complete, children or not.

Thank you for writing out your take on the words! Beautifully written!

MameyJane said...


As a Mama of four and owner of a hobby farm and garden of my own, I needed to hear this too! Just yesterday I was musing in my heart about the future, and regret. What will I regret 10-15 years from now? Will it be that I didn't get the bathroom trim painted or the carport swept or my kitchen cabinets organized? Or will it be that I rushed through my days so fast that I missed an opportunity for a hug or a heart-to-heart with one of my babies? This was very timely for me! Great perspective!

Full of Grace said...

Wonderful Words...Beautiful Photos.. :)

Julian said...

Beautiful everything.... Christina

terricheney said...

I love this post! I needed to read your perspective on this passage. Thank you so much.

Leah T. said...

Such an encouraging post! And so timely, too. Thank you!

I put a letter to you in the mailbox this morning! I wish it would get to you this afternoon. LOL Wishing we could get together for a face-to-face chat or that we liked talking on the phone. I guess I'll just have to be patient for a return letter. :)

Davene Grace said...

Rebecca, I cannot tell you how many times I have thought about this post since I first read it. I think your insight is PROFOUND; and not only that, it's immensely helpful in a very practical way. I'm not sure a day goes by that I don't feel a certain level of discouragement about how poorly I'm doing at "getting everything done." It's a perpetual battle for me. THANK YOU for adding another weapon to my arsenal as I fight against those feelings of failure.

Unknown said...

LOVELY post. This is such good food for thought!