Mid-week...

On day three of creation, God seems to turn things into high gear. I picture God anticipating the task at hand by swirling his finger through the waters of the earth. God's attention to detail is mind boggling and organized and first off, he separates the water from dry ground.  Once again, at his spoken command, "it is so."

And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

It's at this point in the creation story where the anticipation and excitement is electric. If we were watching a play, there would be an intermission at the end of verse ten in Genesis, chapter one.

Just picture it: the earth, simply soil and water.

Empty.

Our natural question is, "What's next?"

Following day one of light and dark, and day two of water and sky, we might expect God to be finished on day three with land and sea, but this is not the case. It seems that God is excited to start filling the earth. And that is exactly what God does.

Then God said, "let the land produce vegetation:  seed-bearing plants and trees in the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.

Did you catch God's perfect planning? He didn't just fill the earth with grass and trees and fruit. He filled the earth with seed-bearing plants and trees and fruit. Seed-bearing. He created life to sustain and reproduce and bear fruit that will continue on and on and on. Think of slicing open an apple and seeing the seed inside. Or think of those "twirly birds" that fall from the maple tree and reproduce maple seedlings by the hundreds if left alone. God's creation plan was perfect.

And then as if to hammer home the point to us, verse twelve repeats God's command of verse eleven by showing us the earth's obedience to that command:

The land produced vegetation:  plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 

Have you ever watched time-elapse video of a plant or flower growing? It sprouts and grows in seconds or minutes before your very eyes. I picture the second half of day three to be very much like time-elapse in real time! God created variety in the plants, trees and fruit and so day three must have been a scene to behold.

And there was evening and there was morning - the third day.

(Scripture from Genesis 1:9-13 NIV)