to eat. I was not really even hungry,
and there were plenty of things to
eat along the path if I had been.
Why did it fascinate me so much?
I laid there for a long time, looking
up at that tree and wondering.
What was so special about it? It was
the only thing God had forbidden
us to eat.” Adam had said, “It was
to show God that we loved Him
enough, to trust Him and obey Him.
st
ARADISE
to the next
time that He
would come to
walk among us. It
was the perfect place
to raise a family, a true
paradise. I did not yet realize
just how happy and blessed we
were to live this way.
The day that forever changed my
life started like so many other days
had started before. Adam and I
awoke, and ate breakfast together.
We went walking hand in hand
along the path looking for yellow
and red tulips, picking blackberries,
watching the squirrels run up and
down the tree gathering nuts. We
had stopped in a meadow, and I was
listening to the song of praise the
birds were singing. The lion roared
calling for us to come and see her
newborn cubs. Adam went to see
the cubs, but I was caught up in the
music, and I followed the chickadee
until her song finial stopped. I sat
down under the shade of a tree to
rest until Adam returned and hoped
to catch another song.
I looked up and realized I was
sitting under the tree of Knowledge
of Good and Evil. It was a beautiful
tree. It was full of fruit that looked
delicious and pleasing. I was
wondering, “What would it taste
like?” The thought of it made my
mouth water, and I desired to take
just one bite and see. I know that
God had told Adam, “That we
must not eat from it, for in that day
we would surely die.” Adam had
warned me, and I knew better than
A serpent came by and coiled up
on a limb just above my head. He
was a beautiful creature. The other
animals said, “He was to be one of
the wisest animals in the garden.”
The serpent told me to take a bite
and that it was delightful. I told him
that I could not. He asked, “If God
had really said, ‘You may not eat
from any tree in the garden.’” as if
God did not have the right to say,
“This is mine alone.” I thought for a
minute that he was right, “I should
be able to eat this, if I wanted.” I
dismissed the thought. God made
it. It was His to do with as He
pleased. I wondered, “Did God
have a good reason for doing so?”
I told the serpent, “We may eat of
all the trees of the garden, but from
the fruit of the tree which is in the
middle of the garden from it, we
may not eat; not touch it for if we
do, we will die.” I wondered: “What
it meant to die? Was it like the
daylilies, where their blooms die
at the end of the day, only to open
anew the next? Did it hurt? Did it
last long?”
The serpent then said, “You surely
shall not die! God knows that in the
day you eat from it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like Godknowing good and evil.” I had never
thought about being like God.
He can do everything. I would like
that kind of power. Maybe if I ate
the fruit, then I would truly be like
Him- knowing everything, seeing
everything, being everywhere at
once. Was that why the serpent was
so wise? If I knew good and evil,
maybe then I would know better
how to please God and Adam. This
continued on page 10...
January - March 2016
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