Genesis One
Genesis One
20 And God said, ‘Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.’ 21So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ 23And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.’ And it was so. 25God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
Animals inhabit our yard. Cats feral and domestic. Some resident some passing through. Snakes in Patty’s Garden. Dogs. Baby possums. Raccoons that threaten property and have to be kept out of the attic somehow. Fox now and then. Turtles, squirrels, birds. Frogs certainly. No small bears seen here yet but in the Cove. Growing up on Massalina Bayou in the 1940s was a caution: the occasional gunshot heard during breakfast signaled the end of another large alligator in the bayou down front. Or water moccasin.
Can’t be otherwise. They were all created before us and God saw that it was good. We encroach on their space and they have no place to go. And after all this is Florida: they enrich life.
26 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind* in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth,* and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
27 So God created humankind* in his image,
in the image of God he created them;*
male and female he created them.
27 So God created humankind* in his image,
in the image of God he created them;*
male and female he created them.
May our dominion be thoughtful and kind.
TW+
Baby possum peering bashfully from under a ceramic elephant: photo taken by Kristen on their porch yesterday.
Alligator having dominion over sheriff's patrol car in Alachua County: New York Times this morning. The ten foot gator tore the bumper off. Go Gators.