Show Don't Tell: Genesis 8:1-19

Instead of saying "The waters receded and Noah sent out birds," let them feel the waiting. "But God remembered Noah." After months of nothing but water in every direction, God remembers. A wind begins to blow. The ark scrapes—feel the jolt—and settles on rock. Mountains appear like surfacing whales. Noah opens a window and releases a raven: black wings against gray sky, circling, never returning. Then a dove. Watch it fly, disappear, return. No place to land. Seven more days of waiting. The dove again. This time: an olive leaf in its beak, still fresh and green. Life. Somewhere out there, trees are breathing again. Seven more days. The dove doesn't return. Noah removes the covering of the ark and looks out at mud, mountains, possibility. God speaks: "Come out." Watch the door open, the animals streaming down the ramp, the first footprints in a washed world.