Thanks a Lot, Adam and Eve

By:  Donna Martin

One day as I was walking, I was enjoying the beauty of God’s creation.  The wildflowers were especially beautiful, the birds were singing joyfully, and the locusts were buzzing lazily in the summer sunshine.  As I was soaking in the beauty of the summer day I began thinking about Adam and Eve and how beautiful the Garden of Eden must have been.  And honestly, I became a little aggravated with Adam and Eve.

God had given Adam and Eve everything they needed.  They were living in the perfect, beautiful, peaceful world.  All they needed for life was provided by God.  God placed them a garden complete with a beautiful river that watered the garden and trees that were loaded with good food to eat.  They did not have to worry about going to the grocery store, what to wear, alarm clocks, laundry, dusting, to-do lists, car repairs, carpets, granite countertops, cell phones, deadlines, electric bills, home loans, job promotions……  They only had one restriction.  They could not eat from one of the trees, only one.  They could eat from every beautiful tree in the perfect garden except one.  How hard could it have been to follow that one rule?

I guess I cannot really be that hard on Adam and Eve.  We can blame Adam and Eve for our downfall, but aren’t we just as guilty?   What if the only rule that God had given man was do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor?  How long would it have taken us to break that command? At one time or another in our lives, we have all tried to get something we were told we could not have whether it has been a cookie from the cookie jar or someone else’s wife or husband; we have all walked down the same path as Adam and Eve.  Instead of trusting God, we try to be God.

It is sad to admit, but if any one of us had been in that garden, based on how we live today, we would have probably made the same mistake.  God’s rules are not meant to restrict us or make our lives miserable.  Interestingly, obeying God makes our lives have purpose, hope, and meaning. How different would our marriages, our families, our city, our county be if every day we all took time to be still and spend a few minutes with God, if we prayed continually, if we trusted instead of worried, if we put God first place in our lives?

The Martins are available to present “Happy Together” Marriage Enrichment Events for churches and organizations.  To schedule an event call Michael at 940-735-1515. They are certified “Prepare/Enrich” Facilitators and are available to work with couples on an individual basis using the “Prepare/Enrich Assessment.”  They publish a weekly “Happy Together” Blog about family and marriage issues.  You can order copies of their new books Dancing With Death and 366 Tidbits We Have Learned in 14,610 Days of Marriage, read, and subscribe to their “Happy Together” Blog by logging onto the Martin’s website at www.happytogethermarriages.com.