When Genesis was edited down to the final draft you see in your bible today the people of Israel were captive in a land of a pagan people with pagan gods. The creation stories they came in contact with told of Gods killing each other and using the blood and dust to create servants (us) to work on the earth for them. But our story, though using much of the same imagery, tells of YHWH who breathed his very spirit into the dust to make us as carriers of his image in this world. This God created a beautiful and ordered world from the forces of chaos, which were worshiped as gods by others, as a loving gift to us. While other gods wanted to serve themselves and where whimsical, the one true God created as an expression of his nature of selfless love.
What does this mean for you and I? It means that no matter how beat down you have been, no matter how many times you and I have messed up, God's mark on us is a sign of love and that we were created for more. We were created to be radiant with the Imago Dei (the image of God). As you start your day, you can look out your window and say; "This day, this world was made for me to thrive in."
Father, let me live today as a new day in the life you breathed into me.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
