As I Would Tell it to My Children

We have owned, over the past 6 years, several Children's Bibles and Bible story books. We read a Bible story almost every night before Marley and Laney go to bed. I've never been completely satisfied with any version for children I have encountered up to now. So, I've decided to start writing my own versions of some Bible stories as I would tell them myself. What follows is my version of Genesis 1 (and a little of Genesis 2). Enjoy.

Imagine a time before there was anything at all. God was, but God was all that there was. There was no such thing as light. There was no such thing as time. There was no such thing.

Since there was no such thing, God decided that it would be a great idea to make somethings.

So He started out to create the heavens and the earth. The earth started out like a lump of play-doh without any real shape at all. And the heavens, well, they were all the stuff that was not the earth.

But it was really dark.

Of course, God can see in the dark. So it didn’t really matter to Him, but He thought it would be cool to brighten things up a bit since He was getting ready to make all kinds of cool things to see. So God said, “Let there be light.”

And there was. Cause He’s God and He can just say stuff and it happens. And God saw the light He had made and He said, “That’s really cool. It’s good to have light.”

And since now there was dark and light, God told them to take turns. He called the light’s turn—daytime. He called the dark’s turn—nighttime. There was nighttime and daytime and that was the 1st day that ever was.

Then God decided that he would make the sky. He decided it should be blue. (I think He must have first made the color blue that day.) He decided the sky should be up over the water. That was the second day that ever was.

The next day, God decided to make beaches. So He made all the water gather up over at one place and that caused dry ground to appear. He called the dry ground “land” and the water He called “seas.” And he looked at the land and the seas He had made and He said, “That’s really cool. It’s good to have land and seas.”

Then, because He was excited over the beaches He had made, He decided to make some other things on that day. He said, "Let the land make plants"—flowers, trees, grass—all the plants you can think of He made. And He told the plants to make seeds that would make more plants just like the plants that had made the seeds in the first place. And God looked at the plants and He said, “That’s really cool. It’s good to have plants.” That was the third day that ever was.

And the next day (light and dark were taking turns really well by now), God decided to make the sun and the moon and that they should be a sign to tell when it was Spring or Winter and what day it was and what year and what time it was. And God looked at the sun and the moon and He said, “That’s really cool. It’s good to have years and seasons, and months and days, and hours, and minutes and seconds and a pretty moon and really bright sun.” That was the fourth day that ever was.

On the next day, God decided to make fish and birds to swim in His seas and fly in His skies. He made them all colors and sizes and kinds. Some are beautiful and some are not, but God made them all. He taught the fish to swim and the birds to fly. He told the fish to have baby fish so there would be plenty of fish in the sea. He told the birds to lay eggs and have baby birds so there would be lots and lots of birds. And God looked at the fish and the birds and He said, “That’s cool. It’s good to have fish and birds.” That was the fifth day that ever was.

Then, God decided to make zebras, puppies, lions, cows, porcupines, snakes, horses, rabbits, giraffes and any other kind of animal you can think of and any kind that you can’t. He taught the cow to say, “Moo” and the lion to roar, and the giraffe to be really quiet. He told them all to have babies and make sure there would always be a lot more of them. He made lots of animals and He made them all different, so He really used His imagination. He looked at all the animals and He said, “Animals are cool. It’s good to have animals.”

Later that same day, God was thinking about all the stuff He had made. The light was like Him, sort of –it was bright. The sky was like Him, sort of—it was big. The land was like Him, sort of--it was solid and strong. The plants were like Him, sort of—they were alive and growing. The sun and the moon were like Him, sort of—they put things in order. The fish and birds and animals were like Him, sort of—they could move all around. All the things God had made were good, but none of them were made like God. None of them knew how to make things, or choose things, or how to enjoy the other things God had made, or how to love.

God decided He wanted to make something really special. So He made people. He started with Adam. He shaped him from the dust and breathed on Him. Then He told Adam to take care of everything He had made and name all the animals and eat from the plants. He let people have choices. He let people know who had made them and all the other somethings, so they would know how to enjoy things. He taught people how to love, by loving people. He made people the most special part of all He had made, because he made people the most like Himself. And He made people so they can talk to Him and enjoy being with Him. God saw the people He had made and He said, “They are really cool. It’s good to have people.” That was the sixth day that ever was.

The next day, God decided to take a day and enjoy all the somethings He had made. He rested. That was the seventh day that ever was.

And that was the first week that ever was.