this is what you do, you make me come alive

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Genesis 1:26

imagine you're walking on the beach. there's no one else around, just you and the crashing waves. a man walks up in the distance and he kneels down in the sand and starts doing something. you can't quite see what he's doing but you tell he's really involved and focused. curiosity gets the better of you so you pick up the pace to investigate what he's doing. you finally reach him, let's say you're standing about 5 feet away from him. you see what he's doing and you just watch in amazement at what you're seeing. he's making a person in the sand. a person complete with a eyes, a nose, ears, fingernails. he's leaving no detail unattended. you want to say something but you can't. you can't wrap your mind around the perfection of this creation. he finally finishes, he straightens his back and leans back while still on his knees. he has a huge smile on his face. a smile so big you can barely see his eyes because his cheeks are pressing close to his eyes.

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

he leans in to the sculpture, takes a deep breath and puts his mouth around the nose and exhales. suddenly the sand turns to flesh and the now man takes a deep breath and his whole body moves like someone who has just woken up from a deep sleep. you're completely frozen. what was this i just witnessed? who is this person? the sculptor stands up and reaches his hand down to the now man and helps him to his feet. the two of them start to walk off and before they're too far gone, the sculptor looks back at you with that same smile he gave the sculpture. you hear a soft, comforting whisper in your ear that says, "this is it. this is my masterpiece."

now, imagine this again. and again. and again. and again. and again. and again and again and again and again 108 billion times over. yes, 108 BILLION times over. that's how many people are thought to have lived on earth. it takes a wild, ridiculous love to do something over 108 billion times and never get tired of it. and not only not get tired of it, but get pure joy out of doing it. and desiring a close, personal relationship with each and every one of them. my mind can't wrap around that kind of love and devotion. my heart is humbled and very full.

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” 
― G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.

Isaiah 49:16