it is good

Genesis tells us that the universe is good – a truth so important it gets repeated like the theme of a song.  Rocks are good.  Clouds are good.  Sweet corn is good.  Every river or hill or valley or forest is good.  Skin? Good. Bone? Good. Mating and eating and breathing and giving birth and growing old?  Good, good, good.  All are good.  Life is good.

                     Brian D. McLaren

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In the beginning God said, “It is good.”

Is it still good?

 

In the depths of a timorous heart there are questions.

 

I am surrounded by pain and loss.

This week I will do two funerals.

I will talk to a friend facing profoundly difficult things.

I will see obstinate people, immersed in an ideology of essential selfishness,

behave poorly.

I will hear hate.

I will struggle with my own personal doubts, and my own pain.

I will read about those sick and dying from COVID-19

 

Is it good?

Has the original blessing been overwhelmed by the transgressions of human kind?

Has our lust for power, our love of mammon slowly but surely

taken what is good, and twisted it into something dreadful?

 

This morning I look out my window, peering through the growing light.

I see the sun timidly peek above the horizon into a clear sky.

I see an early snow crowning the top of the mountains.

A doe and her child enjoy the last of my flowers,

and a light breeze ruffles the Aspens.

 

And I remember the words of the Psalmist

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands.

 

And something breaks loose inside me.

I am broken open by wonder.

For at least a moment I can breathe.

For a moment my heart sings!

 

Yes!

Yes!

 

It is good!

There is good!

 

It cannot be otherwise.

We can do our best, or worst.

We can assail this planet.

We can behave poorly, and blur the divine image, the original blessing that dwells within.

 

But this is miraculous!

This day!

This sun!

This mountain!

This air!

This breath!

This heart!

This love that burst from me toward others!

This mind that wonders!

 

This is the day that the Lord has made,

let us rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118)