So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Genesis 1:27-28 (NIV)
Both Made in His Image
The pump has been running for eleven minutes and nothing has come out at the far end of the line. She’s asked twice whether eleven minutes is a long time. She primed it the way the video showed, then took the strainer off and put it back on because the video wasn’t clear about the strainer, and she’s thinking about starting over. The man who lent her the pump is standing in the bed of his truck with his arms folded, looking at the pond instead of at the line. When she asks the third time he says that if she’d listened the first time they’d both be home. She doesn’t answer, and he doesn’t take it back.
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” God said that first, and then he created mankind in his own image, male and female. He blessed them and spoke to them, and he gave them the earth to fill and to rule, the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and every living creature that moves on the ground.
He created both of them in his image, and he said so before either of them had put in a day’s work or failed at anything. Everything else we carry is an assignment. This isn’t one. The blessing came out of his mouth too, and it measures no one: not the house that filled up and not the house that never did. He gave it to them the way he gave them the ground they were standing on.
I’m bad at waiting on anything that won’t tell me how long it will be, and most mornings I’d rather hear a number than hear soon. Here there’s nothing to wait for. God said what they were on the day he made them, and he said it about the man and the woman together.
The man in the truck says he has to get back, and the truck goes up the track without either of them saying anything else. Two minutes later the far end of the line starts to spit and then to run, and she’s twenty yards off, holding a wrench she never needed.
A Prayer to Remember
Lord, you said what we are before we had done anything at all, and we’ve spent every morning since looking for the answer somewhere else. Forgive us for keeping the question open when you closed it. Say it over us again today. We’ll take it from you and stop asking around.
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
