I spent most of the last two days working in the yard. I doused the poison ivy with chemicals, I hacked away at some wild onions with my machete, and seeded some bald spots in the yard (my grass looks a little like my head!).

When God created Adam and Eve, he gave them this simple mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

I kept thinking about this verse as I wiped away sweat and swatted spiders. God gave Adam and Eve this responsiblity as his representatives: to subdue the earth, and keep it orderly. Because they were made in the image of God, they did what He does. When we bring order and beauty into our worlds–whether it is weeding the garden, cleaning a room, making a meal, or completing an assignment, we do the same thing: demonstrating that we are made in the image of God, and fulfilling the mandate God gave to man at the very beginning.

It amazes me that an act as simple as maintaining my yard can in some way reflect God in this fallen world.

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