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CAN WE RE-CREATE OUR LIVES?

Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. (Gen. 7:23, NIV)

If Genesis chapter one is creation, Genesis chapter two is re-creation. What’s done in chapter one is undone and redone in chapter seven. God starts over. Erases the whiteboard. Resets the software. Washes the brushes. Loads the moving truck.

It’s a story filled with tremendous loss, and tremendous gain. It’s a frightening story, and a hopeful story.

This is true for every season of re-creation in our lives.

• Your first date or your first dance.
• Changing jobs or starting a career.
• Ending a marriage or beginning one.
• Birthing a child or enduring infertility.
• Graduation–your own or your child’s.
• Hitting middle-age.
• Welcoming grandchildren into your life or aging parents into your home.
• Burying a loved one.
• Living with cancer.
• Retiring.

In a way, we’re regularly being re-created. With each season, there is loss, and gain. There is fear, and hope. In each season, God does new work within us and among us. And in each season, we take comfort in this line: “Then the Lord shut him in.” (Gen. 7:16b NIV) We trust that the Lord will tuck us safely in and help us arrive safely at our new destination.

PRAYER

Father, thank you for new passages, new seasons and new opportunities. Help me to face my fears in these times by trusting you. Help me to enjoy the blessings you hold out for me in these times as well.

ACTION STEP

Look for someone in your life going through a season of re-creation. Ask him or her how you might be of help in this season.

Chris Altrock

Chris is a spiritual director, the author of seven books, a father to Jordan and Jacob, a husband to Kendra, and has preached for the Highland Church of Christ in Memphis, Tennessee since 1998.