Though my bank account looked healthier thanks to a new job, my spirit was anything but. The constant disconnect between the work I did and what my heart longed for left me exhausted. Complaints slipped from my lips more easily with each passing day. As the months wore on, a heavy fatigue settled over me, and tears would rise without warning—often for no clear reason. Eventually, the weight became too much to bear. Alarmed, I sought medical help, only to learn that my depression levels were dangerously high.
Even time spent with my Zion family no longer lifted my spirits. My smile had faded, and the shadow that clouded my face felt out of place in the bright, joyful atmosphere of Zion. As I quietly began to drift away, I found myself at Sabbath worship one week when something pierced through the heaviness: a message about the profound mystery behind God’s creation of mankind.
Unlike His other creations—plants and animals that were simply spoken into being—when God created man, He took a very different approach:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” Ge 1:26
This wasn’t a solitary act. It was a conversation between God the Father and God the Mother. They lovingly looked upon each other and spoke tenderly as They formed mankind with care and delight. As I listened to the sermon, light began to dawn in my mind. I could vividly picture our Heavenly Father and Mother smiling as They shaped mankind, rejoicing in the beauty of the being They were bringing to life. And when They breathed breath into him—and he opened his eyes for the first time—Their joy was complete.
Come to think of it, the very first being the first human ever saw when he opened his eyes was God. That thought stirred something in me. I began to wonder if the gaze shared between a newborn and their mother in that first meeting might echo the one exchanged between God and Adam in the beginning—pure, profound, and filled with unspeakable wonder.
After worship, while helping clean the sanctuary, a sister asked me,
“You look happy. Something good happen?”
Apparently, I had been smiling the whole time without realizing it.
“I guess I’m smiling because I remembered that I was made by God in His happiness.”
The depression that even medication could not reach was lifted through God’s word. Joy returned to my face. I found myself smiling as I walked, humming New Songs, and delighting in the smallest of tasks. The image of God smiling as He formed us lingered in my heart.
To my beloved Zion family: if you ever find yourself walking through a hard time, remember how you were created. You were formed in joy, in love, by the hands of God Himself. Never forget that you are His precious child.