And Then God I stood looking out at the mountains bathed in the early morning sun, at the dark clouds hanging lazily here and there, not having decided whether to drop their moisture on the earth below or go to another place and time, a robin strutted just outside the back door, stopping now and then to pick up a seed, search for something to eat, the earth smelled of rain, and it felt as one about to be bathed with a shower from on high, there was an early morning stillness in the air, an occasional car going by on the highway and the chirping of birds the only sound Suddenly in my mind's eye I saw the earth as it was when He created it, there was not a cigarette butt that mocked pristine beauty, not an empty soda can, an old whiskey bottle or a hamburger wrapper from a fast food take out, nor was there a dead limb on a tree, a dead bird laying on the breast of the earth, there were no garbage dumps, the rivers ran pure, there were no junk cars in back yards nor acres of them piled up as a monument to the waste and arrogance of man, nor was there a dumpster, overflowing with the abundance of food... I heard no hand raised in anger to another, no voice spewing out cursing to their creator, there was no blood spilled on the ground, not a child crying in hunger as his dying mother lay dying from disease and lack of care, there were no bodies lying on the concrete sidewalks where they had been gunned down by the hand of another, no woman bruised and broken at the hand of her husband, no child sitting in the corner fantacizing of having a mother who loved her, all was at peace, and serene in this world I saw, no disunity or rebellion anywhere...God had not yet created Man sharon written  April 18, 2001