Spring is here, and with it, a new beginning. It’s no surprise that our focus this month is Creation.
Now, I love this theme. I’m especially a fan of gardening, there’s nothing like placing a tiny seed in soil, giving it simple care, and watching it break the surface and grow until you have to quickly find ways to contain it. All from something so small. If you haven’t tried it, go and plant chamomile seeds and see.
But creation is not only beautiful; it’s also terrifying. Try and hold a single grain of sand and you’ll feel big. Then, look down and see the countless grains beneath your feet that form the earth. Plant that seed and it bursts into life and sustains itself. Now, zoom out and you quickly begin to realise how tiny and fragile we are. Nature can overwhelm in an instant. Now, travel beyond our planet, our grain of sand, and you’ll see the universe stretches on: billions of stars, trillions of galaxies. It’s staggering.
And yet, despite the vastness, here we are, able to think, to wonder, to know, and to be known by the Creator. “It’s A Remarkable Thing, To Be A Human Being.” Perhaps this is something like what Job felt after his whirlwind tour of creation.
Now, just in case you aren’t excited about the topic, let me blow your mind. I suggest you sit down.
It’s estimated that there are over 400 billion stars in our galaxy and about 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. What does that even mean? But, I played around with the numbers, just for fun, and here are some mind-bending pictures.
The biblical authors didn’t know modern astronomy, and their writings reflect the ancient Near Eastern worldview, earth as flat, and the center of everything (look away, Copernicus). But they didn’t need to, because they already grasped the scale of God’s creation in a way that still speaks today.
Isaiah 40:26 says: “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name.”
And Psalm 139:18 adds: “If I could count them (your thoughts), they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.”
Now, just imagine this: if God named one star every second, it would take nearly 12,700 years just to get through the stars in our galaxy alone. What about the galaxies themselves? Counting 2 trillion galaxies at one per second would take about 63,000 years, and that’s without any bathroom or snack breaks. I’ll leave you to do the math for all the stars in all the galaxies…
But let me give you one more. Isaiah 43:1, 4 says: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. Because you are precious in my sight and honored and I love you,”
Here’s the point: the same God who names the stars, knows your name, and loves you. ✨
Okay, here’s one more, I promise, for fun…
What does R400 billion stacked as single notes look like?
- In R200 notes:
- Notes: 400,000,000,000 ÷ 200 = 2,000,000,000 notes
- Height: 2,000,000,000 × 0.10 mm = 200,000 m ≈ 200 km
- Fun check: that’s ~2× the Kármán line (edge of space ≈ 100 km).
- In R100 notes: 400 km
- In R50 notes: 800 km
- In R20 notes: 2,000 km
- In R10 notes: 4,000 km
Bonus thought: if there were R1 banknotes (thankfully there aren’t), you’d need 400 billion notes, stacking to ~40,000 km… about the circumference of Earth.
So this month we’re leaning into Creation, beginning with light and breath and rhythm.
Theme: Creation
From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture speaks of beginnings, beauty, and divine order. Creation isn’t just about origins; it’s about awe, pattern, and the invitation to see. And we end with a new beginning, tears wiped away, and the tree of life bearing fruit again.
Character: Job
Job is faithful and blameless, yet he suffers deeply. He asks for answers and is instead given a vision of creation’s breadth and depth. His story invites us to consider how human suffering sits within the wider mystery of the Creator’s world.
Book: John
John opens with creation language: “In the beginning was the Word.” The Gospel unfolds in sevens, seven signs, seven “I am” statements, and a week that culminates at a wedding. John doesn’t only tell us what Jesus did; it shows us who Jesus is.
Symbol: Seven
We’ll trace seven as a sign of divine completeness, from the seven days of creation to the “seven pillars” of wisdom, the psalmist’s sevens of praise, and Revelation’s sevenfold patterns.
Bonus Theme: Sabbath
Sabbath is more than a day off; it’s a rhythm of restoration. From the seventh day in Genesis to Jesus healing on the Sabbath in John, rest is revealed as renewal, creation’s cadence woven into our weeks.
Bonus Symbol: Behemoth and Leviathan
In Job’s whirlwind encounter, two wild figures appear: Behemoth and Leviathan. More than animals, they are cosmic symbols, images of untameable strength, chaos, and mystery. They remind us that creation is not fully within our grasp, but always points beyond us.
It’s a full month, and a sacred one. Creation is not just a past event. It’s a present invitation: to live with wonder, to rest with trust, and to walk with the Creator in the garden of now. Let’s walk it slowly. Let’s listen deeply. Let’s see what creation still has to say.