light poured into the nothing.

“GOOD!” Someone said. the voice was loud, but not annoyingly so. it was the voice of a King. he listened to it in awe.

it was a perfect sort of light, the kind that didn’t give any sort of comfort to him. but it was dark in the nothingness, and at least now he could see.

light was all that was there.

he was in nothing no more. then again, it was a very strange light. the kind that is just a product of something pleasant, like the light of a warm fire.

he stood in the light for some time, pondering it. at least he thought he was standing. it’s hard to tell, in light.

he wondered if he was ever truly in nothing, because he was something.

right?

he looked at himself. he was obviously not the source of the royal voice, but someone else. it was love at first sight. infatuation for himself (known to the wise as pride) filled his being. he was very, very beautiful.

“i am wonderful! i am beautiful! how clever of me!”

from then on, that was what the prideful creation called himself. clever.

the light was more than there, it gave birth to a new something: time. clever could now count the minutes, seconds, days, eons. it became unpleasant, waiting in time. now that he thought about it, everything was unpleasant.

he hated everything, now that he thought.

and then He spoke. and at that, clever hated Him. “He,” clever decided, “is what i should be.” clever was so busy hating he missed the lightful nothing split. the not became a more something kind of nothing, and it went in two. there was nothing between them. how ugly, he thought. standing between nothings, clever became bitterer and bitterer towards Him.

then matter happened. at His word, planets orbited the nothing, and on one of them, one He was particularly fond of, oceans, rivers, lakes and puddles washed over the barren land. plants grew, shot out of the new earth as if they were made to, because they were

and it was:

“GOOD!” He said.

clever was beginning to fear what He could do. the sheer power of this, this – God was more than the stars he was about to make.

and what stars they were.

atoms (which are complex in the first place) fused, energy exploded out of the not-nothing-anymore, and it got brighter and brighter in this newborn universe, to clever’s dismay.

and not just any old stars, giants, super-giants, and even dwarfs (which were still colossal) gave an order to the drifting planets across the universe. but one star was especially important because it gave life to God’s plan.

and, because God loves order, He made the moon as well.

and, of course, it was:

“GOOD!”

then came the party. at God’s word, the oceans rioted with innumerable scaly things, and the infant sky was tickled by the wings of uncountable birds, and though some of the more slimy beasts might not be the most “beautiful” in His painting, they were all:

“GOOD!” said God.

clever started to worry.

then God showed off in the best way possible. at his word, things with legs two, four, and more danced over the earth, bleating, braying, clicking and screaming their praise for their Maker. it was most definitely:

“GOOD!”

but now comes the glorious part, the really very good part. He looked down on the good world that He had just made, and gathered some of its dirt. using his power, showing his love, and knowing the consequences, He made a beautiful creature called man. He made us. and to top it all off, He gave man a friend of the same kind as him, because God understands us. He called the friend “Woman.” and i bet you can guess that they were both:

“VERY GOOD!”

the most beautiful thing about God’s newest creation was not their bodies (though those were magnificent), but their nature. they were images of God, and therefore felt the same things he felt: love, grace, creativity, and, though they didn’t know it yet, anger and sorrow.

clever didn’t like this one bit. he seethed with anger and jealousy toward this new creation, and while clever’s fury burned, God rested, and took joy in the work He had made.

now, there are eons more to this story, and this is just the beginning. seeds of sin will be planted, hatred will thrust its roots deep into man’s heart, wars will rage, kindness will be shown, God will ever surprise us with His ways, most of all in his sacrifice for us, but ultimately we will go back to the beginning. we, those who trust in Him, will live in the loving, surprising, awesome presence of God in paradise, just like the parents of humanity did, only this time it will never end. but until then, we must do what we can to imitate that world, and wait for a second beginning.