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Lily Cathcart
May 04, 2026
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Genesis 1: 14-31 (NIV)
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
In our digitally focused modern world we are used to seeing a loading bar: a straight line point A to point B in, ideally, as little time as possible. I think that sometimes we try to see life like that too, whether our own or the earth’s… birth to middle age to death, seed to tree to stump, discovery to abundance to extinction.
But I get the impression God doesn’t see life like that.
This passage from Genesis feels to me like I am standing watching creation unfold, not like a loading bar but like a series of ripples, washing over the earth each one bringing clarity and even more abundant life than the one before. A creation taking its first fragile steps not in a straight line but in a joyful dance with its creator.
I think God might see us like that too. Not a straight line but a rippling of growth and possibility, each day, each season of our lives revealing more abundance and clarity. Perhaps God is the one dancing for joy when we experience a fresh new ripple of self. Perhaps we can dance together.
Prayer:
Dancing God
of dancing people
on a dancing planet
Dance with us as we discover new aspects of ourselves
Dance with us as we rejoice in the creation you love so much
Dance for us when we cannot dance for ourselves
Amen
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