As God continues creation He culminates His work by making mankind in “our image”.  We are created in the image of the Holy One.  Just as God made all, He charges mankind, the one created in God’s image, to care for the earth and all of creation.  We are called to stewardship over what God created.  God gives plants and animals as food and gives the command to all of creation to be fruitful and multiply.  As God finishes creation, He says it is “very good”.

It is too easy to read ‘very good’ as applying simply to mankind.  I think it refers to the whole He created.  It is like a banana split – the ice cream is good, the banana is good, the toppings are good, the whipped cream is good – but together they are very good.  God saw the sum of creation and said it was ‘very good’.

God is a God of relationships.  We are called into a personal relationship with Him through His son Jesus.  When God looked at the complete works of His hands, He saw the relationship between all parts and that was what is very good.  It is all about relationship.  In our role as the ones created in the image of God, we are called to be loving parents of one very large family.  We are called to love the earth as God loves the earth.