{Art © Jago from Thoughts to Make your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd-Jones}

In the beginning,
before there was anything,
God’s building block—from which he would make the entire universe—was…

Nothing.

Out of the Void
The Abyss
The Emptiness
The Nothing
God makes
EVERYTHING.

His other building block?

Chaos.

The Bible says God hovered over the chaos—over the disorder, the darkness, the confusion—and out of that makes the universe.

Out of chaos, he makes…

…the butterfly

…tomatoes growing on vines

…sun, moon and a thousand stars—all turning, wheeling, orbiting together in a delicate dance.

This is not the clash of violent forces
making the world by chance.
This is an artist
creating his masterpiece.

Not because he has to.
But because he wants to.

For the sheer joy of it.

Doing what he loves to do.
Working with his favorite materials—
nothing
and
chaos.

Filling the emptiness.
Lighting the dark.
Turning chaos to Joy.

But sin lives in our hearts, unleashing chaos once more, working backwards—unraveling God’s beautiful creation, breaking his perfect world, un-creating everything: turning life to death, joy to sadness, hope to despair, light to darkness, order to chaos.

But God would once again turn chaos to Joy.

This time not hovering over the chaos.
But entering into it.
Taking the chaos into his own heart.
Mending his broken world
And in mending it
Die.

For, one night, long ago in Bethlehem,
Into the chaos of homelessness and poverty
Into the chaos of breaking hearts
Into the chaos of darkness and hate and tears and sickness and dying…

A Light.

A Word.

A Child.

{Art © Alison Jay from Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones}

{Original poem © 2015 Sally Lloyd-Jones | written for Blood:Water, an organization founded by band Jars of Clay and activist Jena Lee Nardella to serve local leaders and join them in the fight to end the HIV/AIDS and water crises.}