LONG AGO, IN THE TIME BEFORE ALL DAYS,
before the beginning of all things, the Great Spirit created the spirit-world above and the earth below. At that time our mother earth was an empty wasteland with no form or beauty, and great darkness was over the face of the ancient deep waters. The Breath of the Great Spirit moved over the surface of the waters like an eagle brooding over her nest.
Creator sounded his voice. “Let light be!” he said. And light was! The Great Spirit could see that light was good, so he separated the light from the darkness. Creator gifted the light with the name day, and to the darkness he gave the name night. Then night faded and morning came. The first day.
In six days the Great Spirit made all things seen and unseen.
He made the spirit-world above and the earth below. Next, he created spirits to be his messengers and helpers. He also made the sun, moon, and stars, and all plants and animals. He made the great waters and all who swim in them. The winged ones who fly in the sky, the four-legged ones who walk on the ground, every creeping thing that crawls—all were shaped and molded by his hands.
On the sixth day Creator made the first man and woman and placed them in the Garden of Beauty and Harmony to be caretakers of the earth.
On the seventh day the Great Spirit rested from his work of creation, not because he was tired but because he was finished. The Great Spirit blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day.
So humankind was created to enter into his day of rest and remain in harmony with Creator and care for all of creation.
But the evil snake, sometimes called Accuser (Satan), a spirit being who opposes the Great Spirit, twisted the words of Creator. He planted a seed of doubt into the minds of the first humans, so they ate the fruit of the only tree that Creator had told them not to eat from, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By listening to the evil snake and disobeying the Maker of Life, they brought death with all its bloodshed, violence, and destruction to all the generations of humankind that would follow.
The life of beauty and harmony was lost and the circle of life was broken. A powerful curse came upon the ground that affected all living things. Spiritual and physical death came to all. The hearts of human beings became broken, twisted together with good and evil. They could no longer live in harmony on the land and began to follow evil ways and hurt and kill one another.
Adapted from First Nations Version by Terry M. Wildman. Copyright (c) 2021 by Rain Ministries, Inc. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com
