Adam & Eve

If we could interview Adam and Eve, perhaps ten or twenty years after their expulsion from the garden, perhaps have them sit down with a prehistoric news anchor, what lessons might they have learned from their earlier life?

If they have developed an ability for self-reflection, they might talk about the necessity of taking responsibility for their actions, that they are not God, but called to be in union with God, and that, even though they do not live in paradise, God still loves them and leads them.

These lessons hopefully echo lessons we ourselves learn along the way, as we mature in our faith: a deep sense of being in relationship, as imperfect as it is, with a loving God; an acknowledgment that the Spirit of God is active in our life and in our world; the realization that we are not God, but called to be in union with God; that we take responsibility for our actions; that we care for what we have been given and use our gifts to build up God’s Kingdom.

What we ultimately are trying to do is to make decisions and live a life in line with God’s will for us, seeking to do what is best, while being open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and moving closer to God’s plan for us, God’s desires for us. May this Lent be a time for us to renew our sense of God’s loving presence in our life, gratitude for our blessings, and a desire to walk with the Lord as he journeys toward the cross and resurrection.

“By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)