Call It Good

The need for reflecting on what we create

When God made the world, He didn’t just push light and trees and rivers out quickly so He could move onto the next thing. It wasn’t a production line. He did something odd and strange. He created and then paused, took a step back and looked out at beyond the vista to admire what He just put His hands and heart to shape. This might sound wild — but God enjoyed what He had Himself made.

“And God saw that the light was good.”

That word “good” is more than just “eh, okay”… It’s the Hebrew word “tov” which means — beneficial, fitting its purpose, morally good, delightful and beautiful. It incorporates not just a functional aspect but an aesthetic aspect. In other words - when God saw the sun, the wildflowers, the rabbit and the wood thrush - I think His heart leapt for joy and He smiled wide like a kid in love and sang.

There is something here for us as creators (that is every human!). So much of life can be rushed and so much of our work can be pushed out for clicks, retweets, likes or deadlines. But it is vital for our heart that we first step back and admire what we created.

Why? Because it slows us down to appreciate the process and result. It helps us enjoy what we are doing vs. acting as machines that simply produce. It integrates our hearts by forming a deeper connection with what we are making.

(Side-note: I am not talking about the kind of evaluating that is so critical of the work (because we are comparing it with what we see online) that we find only faults in it. We’re not critiquing, we are observing…)

Most importantly, it makes us the first recipient and benefactor of our creation. Before anyone in the world sees, evaluates and enjoys it - we get to have it light up our eyes and move our hearts. It’s one thing to make something — it’s a whole other thing to step back and let what you have made do something to you. I love to do this when I take a photo or write a poem - I sit back, read it over and over and let it wash over me with joy. It’s an out of body experience in a way. I am no longer just the one who created this piece - it now lives outside of me and I get to be impacted by the inherent beauty of it. I want my art, writing, photography, sermons, etc. not just to be something I made for others - but something that can be a blessing to myself. I want its inherent goodness to change me. This is essential to our humanity.

God was pleased with what He made. May we be pleased with what we make as well. It will help the world be filled with beautiful, good and true things.