Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” – Genesis 8:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 19, 2018): Genesis 8

T. S. Eliot in “Little Gidding” writes “For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." For something new to begin, something else has to end. It has always been that way, and will always be that way. An ending is required if we are to start something that is really new, and not just the old dressed up a little differently. We cannot hold onto the past and embrace the future; life doesn’t work that way.

The flood brought an ending, but it also brought a new beginning. Noah would become the new Adam, although not with all of the advantages that Adam had possessed. The Garden of Eden was gone, and Noah would be cursed with the memory of the world as it had existed before the flood. Still, this was a beginning. The old had quite literally been washed away. Noah would be given the opportunity to do whatever it was that he wanted with this clean slate that laid before him.   

According to the ancient tale, the ark had protected a sampling of creation from the flood waters. And God had protected the Ark. There is no mention that any of the animals had died on the year-long voyage. Somehow there had been enough of everything for all to survive the long winter rain.

And then, as the water returned to the place from where it had originated, the animals went forth onto the earth once again, returning to the lives that had been taken away from them by the rain and their shelter on the Ark. At this point, God’s instructions once were once more reinforced – go forth and multiply; go and fill the earth. Be the new beginning for which an end was created; the planet waited for life once again to fill the planet.

Welcome to the new world, and a fresh start. God had created a place to begin again.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 9