Monday, January 19, 2009

The River or The Banks?

It's pretty simple, really. When I think about creation, how it might have looked, the Garden and all....I can't help but think about us. About mankind. About exactly how and why we were created. I suppose I learned a long time ago that man was created to worship God....to praise Him. However, it has just come to my realization that there is something deeper there than the obvious. Yes. We were created to worship and praise God, but what exactly does that mean?

Let's take, oh a fish, for instance. Pretty simple creature from our perspective. Swims all day. Looking for something to eat. Eats what was intended for him. And he lives where he was intended to live. In the water, right? Take a fish out of the water and he perishes. He might flap around a little while on the river bank, but eventually that which he was not created for gets the best of him.

So, I think it is with us. If, in fact, we were created to walk and talk in the garden with the Creator, anything short of that will get the best of us. Soooo...when we live lives that are absent of praise, worship, trust and a dependence on God, we walk a life contrary to what we were created for. And there we are flapping around on the banks of life trying to do it our way. All kinds of things creep in...worry, fear, anxiety, control....like I said, flapping around on the banks of life. Created to be a faith based person, that's the answer. That's who we are, who we are intended to be.

I'm not sure there is any lofty spiritual conclusion here. Just a little truth that might make a big change in my day to day dealings with the world around me. As a fish, I would be happiest in the river...as a human being I don't want to be flapping around, either. So off I go to the garden that God created me to live in....faith, trust, dependence on Him.

...there beneath the blue suburban skies...