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Genesis: 1.20 – 2:4.
God said,
“Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,
and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.”
and so it happened:
God created the great sea monsters
and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems,
and all kinds of winged birds.
God saw how good it was, and God blessed them, saying,
“Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas;
and let the birds multiply on the earth.”
Evening came, and morning followed–the fifth day.
Then God said,
“Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures:
cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds.”
and so it happened:
God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle,
and all kinds of creeping things of the earth.
God saw how good it was.
Then God said:
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals
and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.”
God created man in his image;
in the divine image he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying:
“Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth.”
God also said:
“See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth
and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food;
and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air,
and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground,
I give all the green plants for food.”
And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
Evening came, and morning followed–the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.
Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing,
he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy,
because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation.
Such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation.
The Word of the Lord.
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When starting a puzzle, the first thing I do is spread all of the pieces across a large table.
One piece turns into a cluster – and then several clusters – and finally a picture starts to emerge.
When the puzzle is finally completed, it’s amazing to look back and consider the chaos that once was spread across my table.
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Over the last two days, our first reading from the Book of Genesis has described the creation of the world. It was a place of darkness – a formless waste, with mighty winds sweeping across the waters.
Then God ordered the chaos. Day by day, piece by piece, the LORD assembled the world into an orderly, habitable home.
That’s something only God can do: turn the darkness into light; chaos into order; a formless waste into a home; death into life.
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It’s what we often need God to do to in our own lives.
To make a crooked path, straight.
To turn grief into gratitude.
Doubt into faith.
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May the same God who created the cosmos bring peaceful order and inner stillness to the puzzle of our own hearts today.
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Image credits: (1) Jigsaw Puzzle, Wikipedia, Scouten (2) Earth Shaped Puzzle, Montessori Services (3) Serious Puzzles