1. Creation Day

September First.

Today is not just Orthodox New Year's Day, one year following the other as a pearl necklace of time, it is Creation Day refreshed, during harvest time to recall God filling the earth with all kinds of fruit and vegetables.

Before the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, when the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, even before God said, 'Let there be light', God and I were friends. We loved each other as we still do and as we always will with pure joy in each other's presence. We laughed and we sang. I sang for Him and He sang with me. Our spirits danced in curls and waves.

I was honored beyond imagination when God confided in me His plan to make the stars and the moon, and planets and galaxies, and OMG...nebula! I would have stopped right there, but not my God! He went on to tell me of His plan to make one special planet on which He would place miniature replicas of Himself that would multiply and fill one of many planets! The godlike beings would be creative, and love and laugh as we do. At hearing this, I felt less jealous when He added that they would be limited by two most mysterious things He called, Time and Matter.

I played the role of naysayer for this venture, thinking of all kinds of reasons His plan would fail. "How will You sustain light?" I asked, "And these godlike beings of yours, why do you need them when you have us angels? I am sure they will disappoint and cause you all kinds of trouble. What is the point?"

True to form, being as sovereign and autocratic as He is, God brushed aside all of my criticisms as one whisks away dust, and after describing them to me, He said that Time and Matter were necessary to control and sort these gods for His ultimate purpose which was eternal companionship. As the goal was so remote, and as I was certain it would fail, I stopped my naysaying, and instead smiled and nodded frequently.

Imagine our amazement when we beheld light for the first time. The angelic hosts gathered as forming a cloud. Sitting in darkness, we saw a great light which was followed by an equally astounding contrast, that of the return of darkness. And so the Age of Time began.

Matter was entirely unique too. The concept of fixed elements in space that never changed form or color or texture was most peculiar! What would be the point? How useless could such a thing as matter be? But again, I thought better than to second guess God, so I smiled and nodded some more, all the while determined to wait it out.

Since then, the most distressing thing to me has been that Time and Matter have grown out of proportion and seem to have no end. God assures me that Time will cease to exist, but not matter. I wonder what He means by that?