In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth …
Genesis 1:1
Then He made Man.
Eons ago in a foregone age, there was a mystical garden called Eden. The first man and woman created by God lived there, named Adam and Eve …
- Eve
Gentle, intuitive, intelligent, and curious.
Every movement a language of femininity.
A gatherer cherishing life of every kind.
Reaching out to embrace all to her bosom.
Unparalleled inner strength belying her daintiness.
Sparkling purity and innocence. Fair as the morning.
Able to overwhelm the heart with one look of her eyes.
Nothing can compare to her.
She is Woman
and she ravishes My heart. (1)
A slinky black creature crouched behind thick ferns and peered silently at a woman’s figure as she bent over laurel shrubs a distance away. The fern labyrinth hid him well and he peeked at her between its leaves from his vantage point higher on an embankment. He folded his leathery wings tightly against his sides and followed her every move with squinted eyes. He hated the sight of her, but sank lower on scaly limbs to better hide himself.
The woman was swathed in light as she peered down at a bird’s nest while a finch flew about her head. It was obvious she and the bird were communicating with each other and it caused the lurking spy to quietly scoff at them. He knew the woman was talking with her thoughts to the bird, but he had no understanding of her words like the finch did. The joy of the woman and bird were apparent, but they were oblivious of him.
His sullen countenance contrasted sharply to the peaceful little scene and he felt the
difference immensely. He was well aware that he was the only creature hiding in all of Eden.
He glared at the woman with hatred and disgust. After all, she was infringing into territory that had been usurped. It didn’t matter it was done covertly.
Though she wasn’t cognizant of the stranger watching her, Eve felt something out of place in the atmosphere and it made her uncomfortable. But it wasn’t close enough to discern exactly what it was, so she disregarded it when the mother finch flitted about and chirped a robust greeting.
As she bent to part the branches to get a closer look at the clutch of baby birds, strands of auburn hair fell across her ivory white face. A glowing halo completely covered her entire body and illuminated the surrounding bushes, falling on the peeping infants within.
The nest was intricate and unabashedly exposed for all to see; there was no need to hide them or any young in all of Eden. She smiled and spoke to the infants with her thoughts. “You precious babies! Father will be so happy!” The mother finch swooped to a branch and cocked an eye on her. It understood her thoughts completely and flitted with ease, trilling a song, “Hap-hap-happy to see Eve!”
Songs from other birds as well as soft music from the surrounding flora filled the air, drawing her into their cheerful world. Angelic choruses above the clouds also drifted down, and when she disregarded the uneasy feeling, it was replaced with a surge of bubbling joy.
She could feel the presence of Father all around her. His smell was like rain after a storm, fresh and clean, and His warmth enveloped her. With her thoughts, she spoke to Him.
“New life, Father! Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Yes. New life is always beautiful.” He was like a vapor, bending beside her and gently smiling
on the spunky mother, who twittered and strutted up and down the leafy branch. “Hap-hap-happy to see the Lord God of all!”
He laughed with amusement, enjoying the birds just as much as Eve. (2) She relished this
moment of mutual enjoyment and stood to twirl a joyful little dance with her arms extended out
as if to touch Him in the air. Her light grew brighter, flickering like a candle while the mother tweeted around her head until He laughed again. (3)
High on the hill, the dark creature crouching behind the branches observed her and scowled in envy. He suspected her happiness was due to an interaction with God and he abhorred it. Anyway, this was the wrong time for a confrontation and he must report to his master what he had seen at once. Only too well he knew how it would be received and he scuttled quickly away.
Eve wasn’t conscious of the onlooker’s movement in the distance—she was having such a glorious time with God. “Your joy pleases Me, My daughter!” There was no reference to the creature He knew had just left. It would mar her joy and the brooding spy was of no consequence just now.
Eve paused, and with all seriousness, extended her hand over the ground, speaking boldly now. “Earth, produce abundant nourishment right here so my mama bird won’t have to go far to feed her little ones.”
Her distinctive blue eyes were stern and her voice held much authority, causing the ground beneath her feet to react. It had life of its own deep inside and it responded to her command. (4) It heaved up for an instant, as if swelling to release its bountiful supply, then reclined back into place. The lush green grass and branch hands of the palm trees sprang to attention. Though hunger was virtually unknown, she could feel Father’s approval.
Gazing at the nest with its babies, she couldn’t help sighing, “Oh, how I yearn to mother a baby just like animals care for their little ones!” She laughed a little in anticipation of one day cradling
her own baby and God laughed with her. He wanted her to have babies too.
“When will I have a baby?” she asked Him. “It has been so long since I asked for my own child. How I wish for the day I can hold my own baby in my arms!”
“Later,” He said, “at the end of the day I will speak to you about it.” His reassuring words
overwhelmed her and her spirit surged with happiness.
Then, in the next moment, she did a remarkable thing. She lifted into the air with just a thought—her will alone—without benefit of any earthly appendage! Quick as a flick of light, she moved instantly and effortlessly into the sky. Like the angels, she soared through the air faster than any other physical being. (5) Flight was easy for her and she expressed her delight with laughter as she swooped through the air.
If she had looked back, she might have seen the dark stranger moving away in the opposite direction, but her attention was elsewhere. She sped over the treetops that dotted the green carpet of Eden’s lush landscape, then lifted higher into the blue morning sky.
Sunshine pushed aside a gentle mist covering the earth beneath and its warmth pushed the heady scent of greenery upward to welcome her. She skirted the area with its verdant fields laden with grain stalks swaying gently in the morning breeze and its heavily scented fruit trees wafting their aroma up from the hills and valleys.
The further she went, the easier it was to disregard her apprehension that something wasn’t quite right. The day was too glorious to waste on anything disturbing.
She passed over a lazy herd of cows grazing in a meadow as a brightly spotted leopard yawned and stepped out in the open, surveying the landscape. Its interest in the bovines was casual, nothing more than a passing glance. Behind was its family of older cubs gleaning on succulent vegetation. (6) A herd of horses also meandered on a vibrantly green hillside and flocks of colorful birds filled the sky. She knew the thoughts of the leopards instantly as well as the cows, horses, and birds. Her connection to them was clear, uncomplicated, and instantaneous. All was in order, as it should be.
Angelic songs floated in the air from an ethereal distance away and swelled to a high
crescendo, so she sang along with it. (7) Birds of kind and description also sang harmonious
songs along with the angels, filling the morning breeze with happiness.
As she tuned to the singing and the energy around her—the grandeur of the landscape, the grazing creatures below, and the trees swelling with uplifted branches—it overwhelmed her.
How very natural it was to sing to Him! “How wonderful to have God as my Father!” she sang. “He is always with me and makes His animals just for me!” She felt part of the living orchestra playing out in the land beneath her as she swooped by.
She mounted higher, glorying in her flight of freedom. Just below the lowest clouds, she passed
four stream beds until they merged into two main rivers almost parallel to each other—one would later be known as the Euphrates River, the other the Tigris River. These river heads marked the outskirts of Eden and she banked above one of the powerful waterfalls along the Euphrates as it gushed its song.
She skirted over the river, tracing its backwaters to a lush delta, and laughed as the wind tickled through her hair. Flowers were everywhere, dripping with dew. Their aroma fanned the air with intoxicating perfume as they sang and raised their faces up toward her.
A majestic mountain framed by white clouds loomed ahead with a spattering of agile mountain sheep scaling its side. A family of bears lolled beneath it, indifferent to the action of the goats, and an eagle soared in the distance, gathering the currents of the wind in its pinions.
She passed them by and approached the glittering towers of a palace—home! It was a magnificent structure standing boldly apart from the surrounding mountain flora with elegant turrets and graceful archways and a pair of stately gates standing open and welcoming. Its brilliantly jeweled walls and agate towers gleaming in the sun never failed to impress her. (8) The glittering walls of the courtyard encompassed a large group of angels robed in white. They milled about, singing while they waited in attendance.
She bypassed them, alighted on a balcony, and strode into a spacious room that glinted with
contrasting sapphires and topaz gems in the walls and high arched ceilings. The floor was a type of transparent gold, thick and cool beneath her feet. (9) Even the gems in the walls, ceiling, and
floors were singing their quiet melodies. (10)
The room contained very little furniture and ornaments, but nonetheless was elegant and pleasing to her. Adam had built this aesthetic mansion long ago and she was proud of his handiwork. An elaborately ornate wood table overlaid in gold along with four gem studded chairs stood in the center of the room. Adam was bent over a map laid out on the table with two huge angels beside him and she was excited to tell him what God had said.
At that very moment on the far end of Eden, the dark creature also dove through the sky and zoomed past the clouds on his way to a barren land in the distance.
He needed to report at once!
