Eve: "Mother of All Who Have Life"
Eve's Story...
Eve was created into a world at peace with both her God and her husband Adam. Eve lived in Paradise. Eve had every pleasure imaginable at her fingertips. She never knew, as we know, the pain of loss and grief, the hurt caused by misunderstandings and lies, the estrangement and bitterness so many of us are familiar with in our lives today. Eve never even experienced the shame of embarrassment.
Despite all these blessings and gifts Eve still listened to the voice of her enemy, and ours, and she began to doubt the word and promises of God. Her seemingly simple act of disobedience had dire consequences for her, her husband, her family, and all her earthly descendants.
Daily Threads
Eve's Sorrow
Eve’s sorrow is our sorrow. She and her husband were cast out of Paradise and, more importantly, banished from the presence of God. Eve would also experience grief and pain. Her first son became a murderer who killed her second son
Eve's Joy
Eve had once experienced Paradise as well as the presence of God. Her ultimate joy is that God promised her that her descendants would eventually destroy her enemy.
Eve...in her own words
I opened my eyes to a world of beauty and brightness. This brightness overwhelmed me and enveloped me; it was part of my very being. A voice spoke to me, and my companion embraced me while stating “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman for she was taken of man.” This companion was to become my husband, Adam. The voice was God, our Father. A loving Father, He introduced us to a world of delights and ease. We spent our days devoid of shame and in complete ease.
I did not know what worry, pain, jealousy, or despair felt like nor could have I even conceived of these concepts at that time. I tell you, I was able to walk in our garden, and it was truly paradise. We wanted for nothing. We spent our days in utter peace and complete joy. That is until the sunlight in my garden of perfection was overshadowed by a shadow. This shadow introduced me to things that would alter my life and the life of my husband forever.
The shadow that fell on our tranquil garden was beautiful in form, he was charming and beguiling. I had never questioned God before speaking to this stranger. This encounter with the stranger was truly fortuitous, I reasoned. He charmed me by stating that we had surely misheard God. This was true we must have misheard him, had we not? Perhaps we had, but wait I remembered that merely at the sound of the voice of God I was filled with peace and utter joy. Then again, I would love to feel that always, the stranger assured me that if I eat from this forbidden tree and give it to my husband to eat, we will not only never die but we would be like God. I considered our future with great contentment and I rushed off to share the delights of this tree with my dear husband Adam. He will be so pleased with me I thought and then the shadow of the stranger cast a pall over our lives forever. With this disobedience my husband and I lost Paradise, never to be found again.
“They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld
Of Paradise, so late their happy seat,
Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate
With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms:
Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;
They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost