3rd Paper for Integration of Psychology and Theology

Engaging God’s World – Chapter 2: Creation
When I think about creation I reflect on some vacations I have taken and what I have seen; the woods of Wisconsin, the Pacific Ocean in Florida, the mountains of Colorado and the glaciers of Alaska to just name a few. Being in the great outdoors is where I love to be and for me it is where I connect with God the best; whether it is in the midst of pine trees tall and richly scented or among flowers that are full of color and are full of intricate design. For as much as I love the outdoors, my first love pertaining to God’s creation, His handiwork, isn’t found in nature but rather in humans.
Oh humans; skin color, eye color, hair color, ethnicity, height…and so much more, for we are all made by God, we are all Imago Dei’s (images of God) and yet we are all created differently. Granted we share traits that stem from our parents, but our strands of DNA are all our own at the same time. God in his awesome creativity of mankind hasn’t some cosmic copier that he uses to mass produce mankind, but rather like a skilled artist who knows how to utilize the palette can make so many variances of one particular subject, God the artist knows how to make us all so very different and yet so similar.
Yet in the midst of creation and even the creation story found in Genesis, there’s the seventh day, where God rested. God’s example of taking time to rest is something us humans need to observe; for as we go through our routines of life, school, work, etc. I think we forget that we were not made for these tasks but these tasks were made for us. We also need to recognize that working is a part of our lives; it probably would have been an easier existence if Adam and Eve did not sin, but that’s just speculation.
In my desire to integrate Psychology and Theology together in the area of creation I would offer those who speculate if God actually created all of this, to which I would probably get loud and boisterous and simply state to the skeptic, “Have you ever been outside?” Life is covered with the fingerprints of God, all of life points to something bigger and better, something divine and otherworldly. I’ve watched videos from the perspective of scientists (particularly Carl Sagan) and it is bittersweet to hear him talk; from one end there is his series about the cosmos (simply titled Cosmos) and you hear him talk about universes, black holes, solar systems, galaxies, etc. and it brings me to tears to hear about how vast the universe is and how it is structured, but it also brings me to tears that Carl Sagan, a very intelligent man, still speaks of the cosmos as something that just happened. Life didn’t “just happen”, it wasn’t a fluke or a cosmic oops that made everything, there was divine purpose in the creation of everything.
God created this world and everything in it, he also created the cosmos and everything it as well, and when he was done creating it he said “it is good”. God is a creator and a redeemer, though we have missed the mark, he still sent Jesus to come and live among us and then die for not only our sins but for the sins of everyone who was and is and who will be here long after we ourselves have passed away.
My desire is to reach out to others; to serve others and help people recognize the beauty in all creation, that God made all this and that it is good. Through him is life, through him is goodness, through him we can know him and his plans for us.

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