God Rested

     It says in the Bible that God rested.  God rested after he created the heavens and the earth.  
When he rested, did the plants stop growing? Did the sun stop? The moon?  Did the tide stand still?  
And by the way, did God plant seeds so all the trees grew at the same time, or were some trees adults and some babies?  Like was the canopy and undergrowth that way from the start, or did that develop over time?  
     Were all the animals and fish babies? Adults?  It must have been strange while things got settled.  Or maybe the balance and order was already part of the creation.  I’ve heard people say that Adam and Eve didn’t have belly buttons.  Of course they and we don’t know, but it is a strange thing to consider.
     Anyway, back to God resting.  When God rested, did the animals and people feel abandoned?  Did God just turn on his answering machine and take off somewhere.  Was he tired?  Did he need to rest or was it just for fun?  What difference does it make?  I don’t think he needed it, but wanted it.  He is God after all with all-power, all-knowledge, and all-presence.  Did he put his feet up somewhere and read a book?  How would God rest?  Play a game?  Paint a picture?  Does God have feet to put up?
     God set an example for us to rest.  In fact I understand that he wanted us to take rests from our work each week.  If God rested, who are we to think we do not need to rest?   We need to sleep every day.  I don’t think God sleeps.  There is a verse in Psalms that says the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps.  So how did he rest?
     I wanted to paint an illustration of God resting.  I prefer to not have a physical representation of God, so I tried to think of a picture that maybe showed creation as completed so he could rest.  I have photos of beautiful flowers and mountains and sunrises and sunsets, but then I thought how could God be resting if these beautiful things were going on.  Also one photograph had some beautiful woods that had some dead wood in it.  It hardly looked like new creation, which got me wondering what could possibly illustrate God resting.  Aren’t these beautiful things possible because God is working?  So I am caught in the amazing idea that God rested.  And I don't have a painting to show it.
     Apparently God’s rest does not halt nature or life.  It may help me to know I can rest and trust that life will go on.