It is good!

Do you ever consider your own work—writing, knitting, performing, etc.—and find yourself amazed? You know that it is good, and you want somebody to share it with, not out of pride, but out of the joy that is the creation of a good thing.

Tonight I was reading over some poems I wrote in the past weeks, and I came across one I had forgotten. (Yes, I forget things I've written. Some do.) I read the poem and appreciated it almost as though I hadn't written it. It was interesting to feel that this work was so much mine, and yet had such a life of its own.

It started me thinking—this "it is good" feeling must be a pale reflection of the pure joy God took in His creation, and the delight He takes in it even now, fallen though it is. It also made me think that this might be a way to think of the question of free will and predestination, because when I write something it takes on a life of its own, and yet I am still the one writing. Strange! (Thankfully, there is never a work of God that He forgets and surprises Himself with later. "Oh, right, Suzanne! I wonder what she's been up to?")

When theologians say that God delights in Himself, and not in a prideful way, this is what they mean: that God delights in His love, and mercy, and creativity, and because He delights in them He wants to share them with us. Because they are good things, and because He is good.

That sent shivers down my spine tonight, and so that was something I wanted to share with you.