This beautiful miniature from a manuscript shows us the world: land, sea, river, trees, plants, animals, birds, moon and stars – the whole of creation.
We see humanity, male and female, represented by the figures of Adam and Eve, but they are creatively taken out of their typical context, and instead we are invited to see them – ourselves – as part of the whole panoply of the created world.
And what I love most of all about this is the way that God appears at the top of the image, in a beautiful rainbow mandorla. It says to me that we can marvel at the beauty of creation. We can adore the attraction of men and women. We can be amazed at the night sky with its moon, planets and stars.
But there is more to life.
And this more to life the artist has shown as God, spanning the entire width of the image, encompassing everything, transcending everything.
Flowering Poverello 