Once upon a time there was a God who created the first man from the dust of the earth and named him Adam. Once alive, he found himself in a beautiful garden named Eden.
Before He created Adam, God created a world full of wonders and wonderful things. Step by step, God created hills, plains, and fragrant flowers, tall trees, swimming whales and crawling snails. In fact, God created everything that exists. Just everything.
At the very beginning, before God created all things, there was nothing but God. No people, no places, no nothing. Nothing. There wasn’t even any light. It’s not that there was no up or down. Not yesterday, not tomorrow. There was only God which had no beginning. Then God did something.
In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.
The earth was shapeless and empty. Covered with deep waters, and spread with darkness over them.
Then God said: “Let there be light.”
And there was light. God saw that the light is good and divided the light from the darkness. He called the light Day and the darkness Night. Evening came, then morning. That was day one.
On the second day God divided the waters into the oceans, seas and lakes and put them in order under the sky: and it was so. God called the sky Heaven. God saw it was good, so the evening came and the morning. That was the second day.
On the third day God said, “Let the earth have land.” And it happened. Earth was covered with rich lands with grass and flowers and shrubs and fruit trees. And God saw it was good. The evening came, and then the morning. That was the third day.
Then God wanted to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs for days, seasons and years. Thus he created two big lights, one, bright light to rule the day and one lesser light to rule the night. He called the bright light Sun and the lesser light Moon. He also made many other stars which no one can count. God saw it was good. The evening came, then the morning and that was the fourth day.
Next on God’s list were sea creatures, fish and birds, so on the fifth day God created the great saber and small sardines, long-legged ostrich and happy little one hummingbirds. He created all kinds of fish to fill water and all kinds of birds to enjoy the land, the sea and the air. God saw it was good. The evening has come, and then morning and that was the fifth day.
After that, God spoke again. He said: “Let the earth produce all kinds of living beings!” So, all kinds of animals, insects and reptiles were born. There were elephants under whose footsteps the earth shook and industrious beavers. Naughty monkeys and clumsy crocodiles. Creeping worms and squirrels. Tall giraffes and cats that spin. On that day, God created animals of all kinds. Evening came, then morning. That was the sixth day.
But on the sixth day, God also created something else – something special. A man. Since everything was now ready for the man – there was food in the field and animals to serve him, God said, “I’ll create a man in my own image and he will be master of everything on earth. ” And so God created a man in his picture.
God said to Adam: “Eat whatever you want from the garden. But, don’t eat from the tree of knowledge which represents good and evil. If you eat from that tree, for sure you will die.”
And the Lord God said, “It is not good for a man to be alone. I will create someone for him who will help him and be his companion.” He brought all the birds and animals before Adam and said that he can choose whichever he wants and even give it a name. He certainly was very smart. But among all the birds and animals there was no suitable partner.
God cast a deep, deep sleep on Adam. He took one of his ribs and made him a woman. The woman God created was perfect for Adam, so he gave her name Eve. God blessed them and told them to be fruitful to replenish and subdue the earth, to master the fish in the sea and every living being that moved upon the earth. And it was so. God saw it was good.
Since God created everything in six days he blessed the seventh day and set it for rest. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve lived in perfect happiness and obedience to God. God was their Master, their Friend and the one who provides for them.
Illustration: Jim Padgett, Sweet Publishing