The Movement of God - 11

The first time God worked with human beings on Earth, he gave them a particular PLACE to reside. God is also a God who Abides, after all. As much as Movement expresses an aspect of Who He Is, it is equally true that Rest expresses an aspect of Who He Is.  He worked for six days of creation, and he rested for one.

He is always dynamic.  He is always at peace.  Neither Newton nor Einstein can explain these non-physical paradoxes, but He Is Who He Is.  God very much IS a stillness in the midst of all chaos.  But God is also the Mover who moves in our hearts.

So this God - who is MOVEMENT - and Who partly created so that He could Move on the face of the Earth - this Mobile God made his first order of business (on Day 8) the cultivation of one spot in which He could STAY.  But this Paradox becomes even more beautiful when we realize... this dwelling place, this mysterious Garden, itself, was also full of movement.

In the midst of the Garden, a Life-River was flowing. Among all else that a River is, and represents, a River is Motion and Stillness Together. Its waters are always rushing in from somewhere, always rushing away, and yet always constantly here.  Moving.  Unmoving.  Just like its Creator.

In the midst of the Garden, a Life-Tree was growing. Besides all else that a Tree is, and represents, a Tree is Stillness with Motion inside it. The Life that flows from its roots literally overflows as its fruit. Nothing looks less alive than something that is always perfectly still. But if you watch very closely, if you look microscopically through the bark, deep inside its trunk and limbs, a Tree is always expanding and flowing. (Not even deciduous trees ever shut down completely.)  And this Tree was an evergreen, bursting with Life.

These were vessels of God's Life.  Perfect. Constant. Motion in Stillness.

From the very beginning, therefore, God had in mind for the Life (and lifestyle) of his Human Race some divine mixture of Motion and Rest - Growth and Patience, Rushing and Abiding, Moving and Staying. And everything in that Place begs us to suppose that it would have been sufficient to last in perpetuity. "Time" would not be a problem. LIFE could be everlasting.

But, as we know, Adam sinned.

And that day, something new came into the World's experience.  Thanks to Adam, there was born a new kind of motion. For poetic contrast, we might call it "the Movement of Man". Or, we might simply call it what it was in this instance, and that which it came to be known as for all time, on Earth:

Exile.

To be continued...