Creation

This is written by Jenny Slater. She joined St Mary's in 2010 as a baby-faced student, went back to uni in 2015 and is now a paediatric nurse. The first question I usually get asked is "is your hair naturally that curly?!" (It is).

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

God didn't need to rest. He wasn't tired from the work of creation. He was setting us an example of how to live. Providing us with a day of rest, a sabbath, so that we may know to set aside time to be thankful, and to be blessed by what he has done. I have never really noticed before that this seventh day, was the first real day for the first humans, Adam and Eve. God rested on the first day that mankind had been created. He made us and then, I'd like to think, wanted to hang out with us without distraction. Walk with us in the garden and enjoy creation with us. For God it was the seventh day, but for us it was the start of all days. He gave us a way to enjoy rest in our lives; putting time with God first, to prepare us for what is to come, and not as a solution to recover from exhaustion.

Rest, in relation to God, doesn't look like a 'pyjama and movie' day, it looks like prayer, and worship, and being present with Jesus. In a world where everything can be exhausting, we should remember that after his work, the first thing God wanted to do, is be in our presence. To spend time with us, within the creation that he made for us. Though God's work with creation wasn't actually finished. It still isn't. He is collaborating with us until there comes the time for the new heaven and the new earth. Until then, set yourself time to be still, rest, know that God loves you, and, evidently, wants to hang out with you!