On The Seventh Day

*** Religious Irreverence ***

He sat back and put His feet up; it had been a long week. 

It had started at the beginning. If He had known then what He knew now, He may have had second or even third thoughts about attempting this crazy process. But it was too late. What was done, was done and even though He was exhausted, He was proud of what He’d wrought. 

It was on the first day that He began. The day was easy, He created light. It was good to see, but He could see nothing. Lots of nothing.

“What is the point of all this light, Your Most Holy and Honoured Greatness?” Gabriel asked. Gabe was good at playing Devil’s Advocate. Well, he and Lucifer were brothers of sorts, so maybe it was a family trait.

“I like to see.”

“But you’ve used so much energy to create light, and for what? What can we see? What is your plan?”

“My dear Gabriel, My plan is My own.” This was code for, ‘I am flying by the seat of My pants here, and I am making it up as I go along, but I will never admit as much to you!’ Gabriel nodded, aware that one does not question the Almighty Creator with impunity, and left His presence.

The second and third days were harder. Creating the sky should have taken moments, but it seemed as if He had neglected to think about boundaries. The sky kept expanding in a seemingly endless glitch. It took all of His energy to contain it and by the time He had wrestled it into some form of order; the day had gotten away from Him. Getting up bright and early on the third day, He was determined to make up for lost time. He created the water and the land, then caused plants to grow upon the land. It was beautiful, and He sat back to enjoy the fruits of His labour. It had been such a long day, and He had excelled Himself in the creative process.

“Um, Most Holy One,” Gabriel interrupted His solitary musings about the garden He had wrought. It was a good garden. Alive and thriving. “Um… the Angels have sent me to deliver their… um… their complaints… or neighbourly concerns, shall we say. It seems as if this constant light is getting to them, and they are becoming…. well… short tempered. I have had to step in numerous times to settle petty arguments. It’s the lack of sleep that’s causing some of the host to get tetchy.”

He sighed. There was always a price to pay for beauty. “Thank you for your report. Please let the Angels know I will take their concerns to heart and will rectify the situation tomorrow.” He would have to delay His next step and sort the light situation out or there would be anarchy in heaven.

And so it was that on the fourth day, He sorted the light out. He created the sun and moon, and because He didn’t really like the darkness, He dotted the night sky with stars.

“Stars, Your Most Holy and Honoured Great One?” Gabriel asked Him, his voice heavy with dismay. “There is not much difference between night and day then, is there?” It was true, while the Sun shone warm and bright during the day, the night sky was full of cold glimmering lights that lit up the land with dazzling brilliance. “Perhaps if you were to set those stars further away, like billions of miles further away, they wouldn’t shine so bright.” Gabriel suggested. “Subtlety, it is quite becoming, you know.”

And so it was that at the end of the fourth day, the stars were banished to the coldest, most distant regions of the sky, so that the Angels might sleep.

By the fifth day, He knew He needed to create something that would tame the vegetation that seemed to thrive unchecked, threatening to overrun His beautiful garden with towering weeds and rotting fruit. It took a day of hard work, perhaps the hardest He had worked yet, to create a plethora of animals, from the tiny to the enormous. He then set them to inhabit the land, sea, and sky. By the end of the day, His whole self quivered with exhaustion. Not one of the millions of creations was identical to the next. Diversity and uniqueness were the keywords for the brief from which He operated today, and the toll was extreme fatigue, but in the end, He looked upon His creation and was well pleased.

“Most Holy and Revered One?” Gabriel’s hesitant voice interrupted His rest and rumination. 

“Mmmm?” He barely opened His holy eyes, as He studied the angel who hovered nervously nearby.

“It seems like your creations are a little unruly. Each different animal has run wild and is creating havoc for the rest. The strong prey upon the weak, the smallest are multiplying alarmingly and decimating the natural vegetation, which is impacting the balance between flora and fauna.”

“Gabriel, I am exhausted. Can you not give Me just one moment’s peace before you start on about how I need to make even more modifications?”

“My sincere apologies, Oh Exalted One. But it is your creation, and I would hate to see that much effort come to nothing as it falls into unbridled chaos. There needs to be some form of caretaker, one that can keep the balance and ensure all is well.”

“Gabriel, that will be My first order of business tomorrow, I promise, but for now, I must rest.”

If all the other days were hard, the sixth day was the hardest. A caretaker required serious thought. He couldn’t just throw random ideas together and see if they stuck, like the platypus, or the axolotl. This one had to be perfect, and so He created a form, so like His own, from the very earth itself. He spent hours forming and reforming until it was just right. Then He breathed life into it, and created a second, into which He also breathed life. Although it had taken longer than He intended or indeed, expected, He was very happy with the results and He set the creation off with the tasks to be fruitful and multiply, and to care for His creation as if it were the creature’s own.

So much time and energy went into this final creation, that He was totally done in, His reserves of energy were spent and He promised Himself that He was taking the next day off in lieu for all His overtime this week.

And so on the seventh day, He rested.

Or He would have rested if He hadn’t been interrupted.

“Most Holy One, there appears to be a problem.”

“What now, Gabriel,” He sighed.

“Your creations are touching things they shouldn’t.”

“Gabriel, you are a grown angel. Surely you can deal with it. This is My day off.” 

Gabriel retreated, only to return moments later.

“Most Holy One, the creations have gotten into the garden!”

“Gabriel, I fail to see the problem,” He sighed wearily. “I created them to tend to the garden.”

“But Your Greatness, the Tree of Knowledge is in that garden.”

“What is this Tree of Knowledge? I do not recall creating it?”

“I am not sure, but it exists now. Perhaps it mutated and created itself.”

“Or perhaps some ‘no good’ angel interfered?” He intoned severely, His voice dripping with disappointment.

Gabriel had the grace to look shamefaced. “I had only thought to assist You with keeping the plants and animals in line by providing them with the ability to understand. I had no idea that You would create a keeper such as You did.”

“You created this ‘knowledge tree’, now you must tend to it yourself. Keep it within a wall and do not let it out to pollute My creation. I will deal with it and with you after My rostered day off.”

Gabriel scuttled away in a flurry of energy. It was likely that the Angels would be dissatisfied with their lot now, and perhaps need extra stimulation and responsibilities, especially as His creation seemed to be growing and developing beautifully. He’d think about giving Gabriel a job. He could run errands, kind of like a messenger. That would keep the meddlesome angel occupied.

He stilled Himself to enjoy the moment of unfettered down time, face full in the sunshine and eyes closed. Peace was a rare commodity in heaven, so much happening, so many angels to coordinate, that it was rare for Him to have moments entirely to Himself. 

“Oh, Holy One…”

“I’m resting!” He called back with a tone of voice that implied what was not said, that this had better be an emergency- a true life or death situation- for Gabriel to seriously consider disturbing him yet again.

“I am so sorry to disturb you once again, but it seems the creations have ignored my wall and all my warnings. The female one has eaten of an apple.”

“Gabriel, it’s an apple, for the sake of My Holy Name! What can possibly be so dire about her eating an apple that requires you to interrupt me ON MY DAY OFF?!”

“Well… it came from the Tree of Knowledge. She knows things now.”

“So?”

“Knowledge is power, Oh Holy One.”

“So, she has power? Is that what you are concerned about?” He asked, lounging back in the sunshine again, trying to regain a sense of that inner peace and tranquility he so desperately needed.

“Knowledge without wisdom is dangerous, and Your creations are so new, they have not developed any wisdom to speak of.”

“And you are speaking from experience, Gabriel?” He asked, reminding the angel of his lack of wisdom in creating the tree in the first place. Gabriel flinched, acknowledging his error. “How did My creations even know of this fruit?”

“It would seem that there is a serpent in Your garden.”

“And who, pray tell, let the serpent into My garden?”

“… Well… I may have caught up with my brother for a few drinks…”

“You let Lucifer into My garden?” He was alert and upright now, indignant and working hard to contain His rising fury. Family was family, after all, and Gabriel couldn’t help but want to love his brother… But sharing heavenly secrets with the enemy was unacceptable.

“Gabriel, you need to sort this out yourself. This is a family matter. Get your brother away from my creations and I will deal with this, and you, after my day of rest. Am I clear?”

“I understand, Oh Holy One.” Again, Gabriel fluttered away in a whirl of agitation and distress. He almost felt sorry for the angel, but he did bring this on himself with his meddling.

Finding that inner peace was even more difficult now that His mind was consumed with thoughts of His creations and what chaos the rogue angel had set among them. He finally stilled His mind enough to calm His rioting thoughts. They would keep until His day of rest was over, and He would be more productive after taking the time out for His own self care. He didn’t need a therapist to give Him that advice; He was well versed in the need to rest and rejuvenate- R’n’R.

He had just slowed His breathing and finally reached that Zen pinnacle where mind and soul began to vibrate in harmony, when peace was shattered yet again by an urgent cry.

“Oh My Good and Holy One, Cain just killed Abel!”

He sighed in frustration. It was true that there was no rest for the wicked. But truer still is the fact that there is is no rest for the good.