Space
The space between planets and suns resembles the space we need to create in our jam-packed days so that we can tune in to what God wants for our lives.
Special to United Methodist Insight | Feb. 1, 2026
In creation there is a cosmic interconnectedness among everyone and everything. In simple but accurate terms, everything revolves around everything else. Everything is spinning within something larger than itself. [1]
Going back 13.8 billion years, God has exposed separateness, which too easily becomes divisiveness. It was already occurring in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve extracted themselves from God and God’s design for the garden.
When Genesis 4 opens, the disconnection became destructive, showing that when we no longer believe we are responsible for each other, there is no limit to what we will say and do to be King of the hill.
With stark illustrations, we see this is not the way God intended for things to be. So, from the smallest particle to the farthest star, God connected us.
There is a complexity to all this, spelled out by the sciences. But there is a simpler and immediate way, we can see it right before our eyes. The device I am writing on and the one you are using to read it were not made by me or you. In fact, if we parceled out every item, and act of labor, we would be amazed to know how much of the natural world it took to get these devices into our hands.
We are connected. And far more than marriage vows envision, “what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
[1] Tom Yonashiro, “The Spiral Nature of Time, Growth, and Existence” (Medium, November 14, 2024).
Steve Harper 2024
Courtesy Photo
The Rev. Dr. Steve Harper is retired seminary professor, who taught for 32 years in the disciplines of Spiritual Formation and Wesley Studies. Author and co-author of more than fifty books.. He is also a retired Elder in The Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.