I think you are born, and get to live life as a preparation for, and a way to choose, how what comes next - some people call it eternity - starts out looking like. I think of God as the Creator ... I believe the In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth ....
I do not feel a need to define for anyone else exactly where that in the beginning began, or even the how things were created. I am willing to start here ... where I have some ideas about how or what my experience is and leave everyone elses experience to them. In my faith we say, "a soul has a personal experience with God". I believe that is true. Usually, what is unsaid right after that is "and we will tell you what that should look like". That is the part that bothers me. I think I will eventually have a face to face with the Creator ... I think God gets me. I think I am a child of God. I think God created me for that reason, and then let me chose to be His child. I think I could have chosen otherwise. I think when the choice is presented, a choice is made.
Several years ago I bought a block of clay and began creating a face ... kinda like a mask. I just wanted to see if I could create a reasonable three dimensional representation of a human face ... just for fun. It was a lot of fun. My thumbs were just the right size to work the clay in to eye sockets and my little finger worked out just right for the nostrils. As I spent time on this little project, I made choices about the cheekbones, the jawline, the lips. I thought about the wonder ... really the majesty ... of being able to create a place that is amazingly self supporting ... that supports all the life ... that supports our lives ... that eventually led to my little life sitting on the front porch steps with a block of clay in my hands, awe in my soul, and a tear streaming down my cheek. I felt a tiny bit of tenderness for this little chunk of clay that was starting to look a bit like me. I remembered (Genesis 1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. Pretty sweet.
I look around and see his thumbprint and his little finger pretty much everywhere. I bet he had a lot of fun working out the details and I bet it was amazing before it started getting messed up. There's still an astonishing amount of beauty about.
I experience God as Creator ... an artist/inventor. I think our ability to make choices allows us to collaborate with the Creator on what is being created. We are not born finished products ... our choices take us to who we become.



I sat there on the front porch steps with the clay drying on my hands and wondered at the Creator able to breathe life into his creations and willing to let them choose what their experience with him would look like ... and eventually help to determine what they themselves would develop in to. I sat the mask aside ... under the boxwood beside the brick path that leads up to our front door. That was over ten years ago, and I haven't thought of it many times since, until today. The nose has weathered off, as did the lips, and there's a small chunk fractured off from the cheek. After I dug around and found it a few minutes ago, I put a leaf back over that one eye ... what remains of that little project looks pretty rough ... neglected ... left to the elements.
I guess what I came in to write about today is this: I sometimes forget that I am not a finished product ... I am still in the Creator's hands. Definitely where I want to be.