Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Desire (01/17/05)
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TITLE: The Garden | Previous Challenge Entry
By Carol Buist
01/21/05 -
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It was a beautiful garden, so beautiful it almost defied the imagination. Multi-colored flowers stretched as far as the eye could see, each petal exquisite with its own beauty. A crystal clear river meandered through the garden, bubbling over rocks and stones and making a joyful noise. Tall, stately trees dotted the landscape – both flowering trees and fruit trees – all pleasing to the eye. Songbirds flitted through the branches, making the sweetest melodies that ever fell on human ears. The emerald grass was velvety soft and like a thick carpet under one’s feet. All kinds of animals roamed freely, without fear of any kind; there was no hunting or killing between the species. Some have even said that the animals could communicate with the humans in a language the humans could understand. It seemed like the sun always shone, enveloping the earth with its warmth, brightness and cheer. The air had a certain sweet scent to it, and all around peace and tranquility hung like a blanket.
The man and his wife shared an idyllic existence in the garden, working as its caretakers. There were no thorns, thistles nor noxious weeds. Vegetation almost seemed to grow of its own accord. The couple performed their work gladly, without tiring, and did not have a ‘care’ in the world. All kinds of delectable fruits, nuts and grains were available for their consumption. They had it all – security, tranquility, intimacy with each other and everything they could possibly imagine to satisfy their senses. They even had a deep friendship with the owner of the garden – he was not like an employer, but more like a good friend or even a father to them. The couple often walked with him in the garden in the cool part of the day, and such glorious conversations they had! He was so benevolent and wise! In fact, he seemed to know everything!
There was one thing the couple did not understand, though. There was one tree, and one tree only, that the garden’s owner had told them was off limits. He called it the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Although the couple had never suffered a hunger pang, their curiosity about this tree and the lovely shaped fruit it contained began to plague them. The fruit was so beautiful! It appeared to be even lovelier than the other fruit in the garden, as it glistened in the morning mist. Whatever would such a fruit taste like? Certainly it must be sweeter than anything they had ever eaten. What was it their friend the serpent had told them? He had said that the reason the owner wanted them to stay away from the lovely fruit was because he wanted to keep his superiority over them – that this fruit was the key to all the owner’s wisdom. Why, if they ate the fruit, they too would be able to discern “good” and “evil,” although neither the man nor the woman really understood these concepts at this time in their lives, as they were as innocent as babes.
The woman mulled these things over in her mind. Certainly, wisdom and the knowledge of good and evil had to be GOOD things. Certainly the owner would not want to keep any good thing from her because he was, after all, her friend. If she became as wise as he was, she would be like a god. She would be smart enough to make her own decisions and live her life the way she wanted. What would it hurt anybody? What harm could possibly come from it? Oh, how she DESIRED that fruit. Thoughts of it consumed her. It was only right that she have that beautiful and tasty delicacy and that she not be denied any good thing, such as controlling her own destiny! She reached up, she pulled the fruit from the vine and tasted it…
“Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:15 NIV)
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I was very much caught up in the great description of the garden.
Your article also convinced me of the desire for forbidden fruit.
James 1:15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Dave S.
Kathy