“One of the concepts from the classical period was the idea of the ‘pleroma’ or the urgent fullness of God. There was such a fullness brimming in the divine presence that had God not created, he would have imploded. God had to come to expression. Just as a true artist is always haunted by the desire to bring the dreams of the imagination to expression, the failure to follow one’s calling to creativity severely damages one’s spirit.”
-John O’Donohue
Pleroma was my word of the year last year; the fullness of God. Strong's defines it, "in the NT (New Testament), the body of believers, as that which is filled with the presence, power, agency, riches of God and of Christ." To be full of something means to not have room for anything else. Fullness in the dictionary means to be filled to capacity. I visually always think of the spilling over when I hear the word pleroma. Because, I think when you're filled to capacity, it's hard to stop it from spilling over.
Picture the Trinity at the beginning of our time, knowing that God is Love, all Love. Could He really keep that all to Himself? True love can't be contained, it continues to multiply. I also wonder, can love exist with one person, with one God? Doesn't love in its very nature require a relationship? The Trinity, pure Love, couldn't help but be brimming, full to the point of tipping with Love. Love can't help but multiple, create, reproduce. It is the very nature of Love.
It was out of that overflow and abundance that the world was made.
When God came on the scene in Genesis 1, He pulled back the curtain and set the stage. He introduced us to Himself first, as Creator. He made. He made out of that which didn't exist. Can you imagine the boldness to take nothing and with just words, SPEAK it into existence? He must have been so full, so brimming over with love, that even His words spilled out on the scene to become life itself.
"In the beginning was the Word the Word was with God and the Word was God." John 1:1
He came to expression through Word that produced life and life abundantly. He set in motion a world for us to where creation never stops creating. He invites us into that world, to co-create with Him. We do that every time we write, invent, dance, work, cook and speak. We are co-creating with God. And when we are creating, life is happening, new life is being made, His masterpiece is still at work. His artwork, the handiwork of His voice, is still in motion and it can't be stopped.
And to think, we are still a part of His ongoing art piece born out of love.
