Sitting down for dinner at our dining room table, our creation window mural was still lit up by the summer sun. Its edges are more frayed now than when it was originally created a few months ago.
The cows nose has been removed and re-taped repeatedly.
Some of the fish have lost their tails.
The stem of the flower has been removed.
And yet, reflections of blue and green still dance in the air as the view outside playfully mirrors the overgrown grass and the pillow-ey clouds in the sky above.
And this night, as hot plates of homemade arepas were brought to the table, our toddler began fidgeting in his big kid chair.
Glancing and pointing at the window, his voice began to exclaim, "On the first day of creation," his voice rang confidently, "God made cows. And God said... it was... good!"
The corners of my mouth began to curl.
His voices continued on.
"On the second day of creation...God made the sky. And God said... it was... good!"
With each statement, a growing exuberance.
"On the fourth day of creation...God made the sun! And then..." he said looking insightful, "God rested."
Again, I smiled.
"On the seventh day of creation...God made you and you and you and me... the stuff of stars. And God said...it was... very good," he said growing in cadence and elation "and then" he said with bold excitement, "God rested!"
Sitting down beside him at the dinner table, I listened to his little voice proclaim the story of creation. And even though it wasn't quite in order or in its fullness revealed, our toddler seemed to understand the central parts of the story.
God saw the goodness of all that God made.
And central to the beauty of creating this vast, vulnerable, and beautiful cosmos is that God rested.
Honoring the work of creation, God rested.
Giving permission to the created world to be what God had created it to be, God rested.
In great joy and celebration of all that is, God rested.
And in doing so, God reminds us of the power and importance of rest. Of being that which God has created us to be. To rest in the knowledge that we are God's very good creation.
So today, Dear Friends, may we find joy and celebration in all that God has made.
May we smell the flowers blooming outside our windows.
May we see the overgrown hostas and the weighed down apple trees.
May we listen to the robins song, the rustling leaves, the babies laughter.
May we savor the sweetness of a peach, the refreshing goodness of an ordinary glass of water.
May we feel the warmth of a hot cup of tea pressed into our palm, and the prickly blades of grass between our toes.
May we experience the power of our heartbeat, and the softening of our shoulders with each breath we take.
May we join in seeing the depth and beauty of all that God has made, proclaiming God's refrain, "It is good...it is very good."
And then, Dear Friends, may we find rest.
A renewing, rejuvenating, reminding rest.
A rest that centers us again in knowing that we are created by God.
And that we, and all the world, are so deeply, profoundly, beautifully loved.