“On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love gave to me six geese a laying,
five golden rings,
four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
AND a partridge in a pear tree.”
“Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” we ask children. The question is a way of pondering together the real cause of something. “True Love” in our song “gives” six geese laying eggs, creating life. Christians would claim that life and the universe started with the six days of creation. I have yet to see any of the other theories create from nothing so I accept this theory by faith. Was it six days – not worth arguing. What I do see in the creation story, in the six geese laying, is a pattern. True love, like with the gifted egg, makes a form, the shell, and then fills it with on-going life.
On the first day, God created light, separated it from darkness and called it Day and Night. It was good.
On the second day, God created water and separated the water of the earth from the water of the sky. It was good.
On the third day, God separated the water of the earth from the ground and there was land and sea with plants growing on the land. It was good.
On the fourth day, God filled the heavens of day-one with sun and moon and stars. On the fifth day, God filled the waters with swimming creatures and the sky with flying creatures. Then on the sixth day the earth was filled with animals and humans. God created and God filled his creation with life giving elements that carry on life. It was good.
As we enter 2021 we will be creating and filling. Hopefully we will be creating vaccines that slow the virus and create ways for ordinary people to be protected – all over the world. Hopefully our politicians will create peace and protect the vulnerable. Hopefully we will create experiences of love and forgiveness and promote life rather than destroy it. “Hopefully” or “prayerfully?” As you enter 2021, what would you like to create and see growing in the forms of your life? That is a slightly different than resolving to loose weight. Make some resolutions about blessing others!
On the Way to Wonder 