|
|
I know that God didn't create Adam and Eve as little children, but He did create them innocent and that's what the children in this piece represent. Oh, if we could only be like them! Nothing express the beautiful nature of our God to me more than the creation account. God made a garden and pronounced that it was, “Very, very good.” He is a gardener. He takes an ugly, black void of nothing and fills it with color and movement, plants and flowers, delightful little hummingbirds, songbirds and lots of cute furry creatures.
I pictured our Divine Parent admiring His creation. As He studied it there arose from the depths of His being a desire for something more. He needed to share what He had made. So He created the first child. His firstborn was a little boy and God named him Adam. It delighted God no end as He watched tiny Adam wander about the garden discovering all the wondrous things that God had made; little Adam, looking up in awe at the enormity of a mountain, peering at his reflection in the crystal water of a fountain pool: little Adam cradling a bunny rabbit, pronouncing
names for all the animals.
“Billy, Bobby, Toby and that one’s Arnold!”
“Adam,” God said.
“Yes, Daddy?”
“Those are all little boy names, Adam.”
“Little boy names?”
“Adam...”
“Yes, Daddy?”
“It’s time for a nap.”
God recognized Adam’s need to share the garden with someone too, so God made a little girl named Eve. And when Adam woke up, there she was, looking at him with an expression that matched his own; a combination of curiosity and delighted surprise.
The children began to enjoy the garden together. They swam in the lagoon and made little mud villages on the shore. Eve would weave flowers into the lion’s mane, and the lion would lie in the grass patiently. Now and then he would lick her toes and Eve giggled. And God thought, “What a wonderful sound!” And He made a child’s laughter echo around the mountains and magnified the sound of it through all the valleys. It was His music.
Adam would teach the animals little tricks. The elephants would raise their trunks on command, and the zebras would assemble themselves in a line and perform a precision equestrian march. And the delighted child would clap his hands. God thought, “What a delightful sound that is!” So He made it rise into the heavenlies, and a child’s applause circled the galaxies and came back again to rest in the palm of God’s hand.
And when Eve had decorated most of the animals with flower garlands and wreaths of
emerald leaves, God admired them and whispered over her shoulder, “They’re all very lovely, Eve.”
Eve grinned. “We’re having a parade in Your honor, Daddy.”
“Really? Well, you can’t have a parade without music!”
Suddenly the air was filled with the lush orchestrations of heavenly melodies. Soon the children were singing along, their voices overflowing with praise to their Father as the animals began to march and prance, and all of creation rejoiced as the sun showered its blessings across the meadow. And God treasured the moment.
That was Eden, that was the way things were supposed to be. Did we really need to complicate all that beautiful simplicity? Wasn’t it enough to bask in the glow of our Father’s love, dangle our feet in a wading pool, and eat the fruit from a thousand trees and not have to worry about the juice making our fingers sticky? Wasn’t it enough to run for miles across the grass in our bare feet, never worrying about tripping on something that’s not supposed to be there because we know that all the fields God has planted for us are innocent and safe? Wasn’t it enough to dwell like that forever? That was God’s intention, to share His beauty with us throughout eternity; to give, to enjoy, to love and to be loved. That is the nature of our God, little children.
copyright 1991 by H.D. Shively |
