Some of you may recognize this from my first ever blog from a few years ago. It seems to go along with my light-hearted, yet struggling attempt at my inspirational theme of a merry heart. This is pure speculation and included for your reading amusement. But I've thought a lot about Eve while preparing this blog. I'm not sure how long she and Adam enjoyed a perfect relationship with the Lord prior to their banishment from the Garden; apparently during that time they loved and trusted Him completely. But all it took was just one encounter with the enemy to destroy their lives - and our lives also. Consequences. Surely there was a time of remorse on their part as soon as reality set in. I truly hope that was the case. We have all broken God's heart at one time or another, yet He continues to forgive and continues to love if we just ask. He longs for fellowship with us, too. Have you met God in your Garden? "And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known."
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(I truly wish I could attribute all my poor decisions to someone else, and I’ve wondered so many times if Eve had not made the decisions she made if things would have been vastly different for me. Poor Eve. Had I been the first woman in The Garden, I might have snacked my way into banishment too.)
. . . . .
Dear Eve,
When I get to Heaven, you and I have so very much to talk about. There’s a lot that the Bible didn’t disclose about your final outcome, but I feel in my heart that surely you made peace with The Very One who created you. So I just know in my heart that you’ll be there.
What were you thinking???? Didn’t you know that a piece of fruit was going to change the outcome for every woman from the beginning of time??? And taking advice from a snake of all creatures! Really? I can see how you could have been persuaded by a cuddly panda bear, but a snake???? I have had experiences with snakes and none of them were pretty. My very own momma, bless her heart, was picking pole beans in the garden when a bug jumped down on her and then the SNAKE followed right behind the bug. It’s a wonder my poor momma, bless her heart, even lived to tell the story. So why in the world did you think a snake would have something worthwhile to tell you???
So you were banished from The Garden - because of The Snake (or rather your choices you made as a result of the conversation you had with the snake). I’ll just tell you right now, if I told My Stanley that a snake made a suggestion that would change the course of our whole world, he would probably still be running. I hate that you got so much bad publicity for your poor choice. I feel that I’ve gone over and above your Decision That Changed The World, and I really have no idea why I have not been banished from my own garden. So very many poor choices, but yet God keeps on forgiving. I lived through the 70s; at least you didn’t have to carry the guilt of disco. I voted for Richard Nixon. I was (and still am) the biggest fan of Barry Manilow. The list goes on and on. And since this is a public blog, I should probably not confess to all the other garden banishing stunts I’ve pulled.
So let me get this straight – we have you to thank for:
The pains of childbirth and terrible two’s and teenagers
Menopause
Chin hair
Hillary and Donald
I’m not trying to overwhelm you, Eve; it’s just that every woman who was born after you has so very many questions. But if we’re all honest, we all surely agree that we are so very thankful that we weren’t the very first woman. Adam probably had his own faults (after the apple eating episode, of course), but if you had no one else to compare, you were pretty much stuck with him as your man for life. We had choices, and yet we usually make poor choices, too, along the way. (Except for My Stanley – he is as near perfect as you can get.)
I’m so very thankful – and relieved, that all my poor choices haven’t been written down for all the world to read. I’m so very thankful that even though the Bible doesn’t tell us for sure, I really really feel like you and Adam surely made peace with The Lord. I’m thankful that you paved the way for the rest of us; I just wish there had been more information. You and I will sit down and talk when I get to Heaven and you can fill me in.
"And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."
Genesis 3:13
