The Most Natural Thing

Some people say we humans are hard-wired to believe in God, that that is the natural state of mankind.

Forty-eight years ago this Christmas Eve human beings circled another celestial body for the very first time. Stretched out beneath them the crew of Apollo 8 could see the dry, gray, cratered wasteland of the Moon. And there, floating serenely in the ebony blackness, precious and lovely, was a tiny blue and white sphere that held every person, every form of life, every idea and deed they knew.

All at once, in a single photograph, mankind saw its seeming insignificance against the vast sweep of the universe, and the pure, vulnerable, crystalline beauty of the Earth, our home.

I have always thought it was interesting that in that moment the thing that seemed most natural was to speak God's primordial words of creation back to him:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good,' (Book of Genesis, chapter 1 verses 1 - 10, King James Version)."

"...and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth!"



[This is a reprint of an earlier post because Christmas!]