Living life with steps of faith

Before I start, I must admit that I want to skip this Fertile Journey Through Genesis.  I feel like I have moved on from the place where I was when I first read through Genesis and found it so theologically transformative in my own personal journey.  Going back through it hasn't had the same affect and thus I am lacking motivation.  Yet when I pick up my Hebrew Bible to begin reading Exodus I feel frozen by a sense that I am to return once again to Genesis. Thus I continue... It is always the one thing that you can't have that you desire.   God created this beautiful garden and told the woman and man they could have anything they wanted to eat in it, except the fruit on this one plant.  I think that is how the journey through infertility feels like for so many people.  It is just the one thing keeping them from their perfect life. And then comes the temptations and the woman's drive to attain a pregnancy.  Her husband goes along with her because ...

"Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh. The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame." (Genesis 2:24-25) A man and a woman together clotheless and unashamed is a beautiful image and a beautiful possibility.  It is also a beautiful reality for the couples who experience it.  Intimacy, vulnerability, unconditional love and acceptance.  Friendship. The image of a man leaving his parents in order to cling to his wife and become one with her is juxtaposed next to the Hebrew concept of "arummim," or being unconcealed / naked.  Beside our relationship with our significant other, there is one other relationship where we have experienced being naked.  The relationship we hold with a parent. Those who raise us are the ones who know us best.  They have seen us at our worst and hopefully proudly celebrate with us when we are at our best.  Our parents are our guar...

"when no shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, because the LORD God had not sent rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil ," (Genesis 2:5) "The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it." (Genesis 2:15) From the very beginning God created humanity to work, to till, to cultivate, to create. Our working was part of God's original plan. Our being a part of God's care of the earth was and still is good.  Our design to be workers was not a result of sin, but the consequence of being formed with love. God worked and rejoiced in the fruit of those labors and we also would work and literally enjoy the nourishment and beauty that resulted from our labors. Our first work as humans was to be farmers.  We played a role in the creation of the earth. In that original garden most of the food was good for us to eat, but there was one plant of which we were not to pa...

"'This one at last Is bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman, ['ish], For from man ['ish] she was taken.' Hence a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one flesh.  The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame." (Genesis 2:23-25) As men and women we feel compelled to return to one another.  We are compelled because of our creation.  The first human was likely neither male nor female.  Neither is God male or female.  It is in our coming together that we more fully reflect the image of God. It is in our nature to cling to one another and in our uniquely shared nakedness to be unashamed. It is interesting that in the second telling of the creation story in Genesis 2, there is no command from God to reproduce. The first telling in Genesis 1 is more about the mechanics of creating and filling the earth, whereas the second telling in Genesis 2 focu...

As God completed his act of creating, he ceased and rested.  Completion of a task should find its fulfillment in "an end." As a woman going through infertility, I wonder when my work will be done and when it can come to an end.  Some say infertility is a continuous battle, and is a grief that never completely resolves.  Yet, through Resolve, the National Infertility Association, I have heard various stories of how different women and men found their struggle resolved.  Whether it be through adoption, birth, or advocacy, there is hope of a time in which the struggle will cease and we'll be able to once again rest. I wonder about that day and whether or not it will feel like a holy or sacred moment. Now, I know that this passage isn't speaking to infertility, but rather fertility.  "On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased/rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done." In a like manner t...

In the beginning God created a self-sustaining planet. Each part of the creation motif is a building block of sustenance.  The first two days God puts the elements in place.  Day three God invites the earth to produce vegetation and this vegetation is given the ability to reproduce through its seed. Day five God invites the waters to bring forth life and commands the fish and the birds to multiply.  Day six God invites the earth to produce animal life.  The first six days God creates the perfect environment for plants and animals to live in and reproduce. And his final act on the sixth day is to create humanity as a reflection of God's own image and to bless them also with the ability and calling to be fruitful and multiply. There are so many ways to approach the creation story of Genesis from the perspective of infertility.  It is easy to be angry, as it is a story of fruitfulness, fruitful blessing, and purpose.  But, it can also be quite encouraging a...

Genesis contains the birth story of creation, humankind, and Israel.   It is also the story of God fulfilling his promise of fertility despite many obstacles. (see the Jewish Study Bible) According to the Jewish Study Bible’s introduction to this book it is appropriate for us to view each narrative as a story being told to convey a point. As we read we picture old Uncle Ned sitting there telling us a story he has told us a thousand times, but each time with a slight shift in the storyline to convey a new point. Genesis is a book that reveals God’s blessing in the midst of our earthliness. As a woman struggling through her own time of barrenness I find this quite encouraging. Early on a friend encouraged me to hold on to hope.   I responded by explaining to her that I couldn’t place my hope in a promise God never made.   Yet, as I read through Genesis I hear the undertone of God’s willingness to bless with fertility, even though God doesn’t seem as committed to makin...

For the last several months I have been slowly reading through the book of Genesis.  It has been an incredibly healing journey as I re-read this text through the eyes of a woman struggling with her own fertility. Prior to this reading, I hadn't realized what a prominent role women played in the beginnings of our faith and our world. So often, what is preached is on the fathers of the faith - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. And yet there are so many incredible women whose stories are outlined in Genesis. Women, who like myself, desire to become a mother and yet find the road to motherhood quite difficult. As I conclude this slow reading through Genesis I have decided to go back through it again.  This time blogging and purposely listening for God's story of blessing of fertility for the land and wombs of His people.  In many ways these two are symbolic of each other - the land in its dryness pointing to the barrenness of the womb and the womb in its fu...