The Story of the Beginning

I would love to visit your church or ladies Bible study group and share this design with them! One person will receive this design while the rest of the group will receive a small design that goes with the story. I don't charge for this service, but I do invite attendees to give a free-will offering to support this ministry.

God has always existed. He is the Creator of everything. Using only His words, He created "the heavens and the earth," including the sun and moon, the land and sky, the oceans and mountains, the plants and animals. Everything He created was good. And then He created the first man and the first woman....yep, you guessed it--Adam and Eve.

God placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden where they had everything they needed. He even gave them a job...to tend the garden and take care of the critters. But He gave them one special command: "Don't eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." Adam and Eve listened to God and had a wonderful relationship with Him in the garden. It was truly very good.

I love this story because I feel like it gave me so much freedom to be myself! You see, the Bible tells me that I am "made in His image," which means that I am created as a reflection of His character. I am not a deity, but I am crafted after Him. That means that the more I learn about God, the more I understand about myself. And from the Creation Story, we learn that God created because He is creative, and He created humans because He is relational. So when I am expressing my creativity and investing in and enjoying the relationships God has blessed me with, I am expressing my true character, which is meant to reflect and point others to God.

(Also, slightly random here, but this idea is unique in the context of ancient Near East because other traditions claim that the gods created humans simply to carry out their work, not to make art and love people like God reveals in this story. I also love the reminder that both men AND women carry the dignity of God's image.)

I hope you notice in my design that man, woman, and God are all smooshed together in perfect relational community with God and with each other. That was always God's plan, from the very beginning.

(A Kassi Retelling of Genesis 1-2)