In My Garden

The other day I was digging dandelions out of the rock garden. It’s not that I don’t like dandelions, I just don’t want any in the rock garden. Dandelions are difficult to dig out because they have long taproots and if you don’t get them all they will come back.

So I’m digging out dandelions and the thought runs through my brain… “Eve, why did you have to eat that fruit? Look what I have to do because of that!” As soon as the words floated through my brain I realized how… silly the thought was. Who’s to say what the world would have been like had Eve NOT eaten the fruit? The world – and its population – would be far different.

As I reminded my kids over and over, actions have consequences.  We will never know what the consequence of not eating that fruit would have been, but we do know what the consequences of her disobedience was. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden and the world became a much different place.

What’s so incomprehensible to me is that God knew when He instructed Adam and Eve to not eat that fruit that the would eat that fruit. So why would he even bother to place that tree there and tell them that was the only thing they could not partake of. As we well know, temptation is a strong provoker. The answer, at least from my point of view, is that God hoped that Adam and Eve wouldn’t disobey. Of all God’s creation, we are the only ones who have free will to make our own choices. God wants us to love, obey and worship Him because we chose to, not because we have to.

That consciousness allows us to understand what it is that God wants of us. Unlike the rest of God’s creation, we can think and deliberate, choose what to do or what not to do, and, most importantly, know the difference between good and evil.  We are more than animals who are solely driven by instinct and less than the angels whose only purpose is to worship God and do His bidding. What an awesome responsibility that is!