The Fragments of Eden

[For My Beloved Rebecca]

There has been much speculation as to the location of the Garden of Eden but most of it is in vain. It is impossible to ascertain its true site. Just as it is impossible to definitively identify the exact site of the Nativity, Golgotha or Christ’s tomb even though many will claim they have like the Catholic Church. The whole point is that these are issues of faith not geography and sight. Right within the text of Genesis we see that any vestige of Eden was probably swept away by the Noahic flood. This is of little importance though in comparison with the higher and more sincere moral truths that the garden represents. In this garden provision was made for the contentment of humanity. This is evident from the description of the garden found in Genesis’ verses. We know unequivocally the garden was beautiful. There was planted in it "every tree that is pleasant to the sight." Beautiful scenery does much to warm and comfort people. To gaze upon natures beauty people will travel to the ends of the earth. I flew across America just to see the Grand Canyon.

The garden was fruitful. "…and good for food." Even within the beauty in nature, there were also the needs and requirements of people integrated in. The material beauty by which Adam was surrounded was only the visual portion of its blessing. The garden was well watered, “and a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it was parted and became into four heads." The teaching of this garden is, that God intended people to enjoy a happy life. God did not design people so that they should be withdrawn or shut up in a closet, but that they should wander amid the beautiful air of nature. He did not design that people should lead a miserable and sad life, but that they should be happy. It stands to reason that some of people’s joy should be inspired by all that was beautiful and morally good. In this imagery of pre-Fall life, we have God's ideal of life, a pattern for our own. It obviously didn’t last and today is often twisted or ignored.

The garden was made with provisions for the occupation or work by people. "… the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." Work is the law of humanity's being. Work is a divine ordination. God put Adam (then Eve) to it. Adam and Eve were the first practicers of labor after God. They was merely emulating what God did in the creation…action or effort with purpose and a goal in mind. Work or labor specifically. A person's ideal of life has nothing to do with being "independent" as it is called. We need to labor and to be efficient and often this needs to be done with others communally. There is no fierce independent American spirit. This is a myth created about the American people. Our strength isn’t in our individuality; it’s in our unity just like any other organization. There are good ideas and functional contributions from individuals, but more synergy comes from groups and cooperation as shown by the Triune Godhead.

Work is compatible with the most ideal existence. It is a promoter of dignity; a willingness to perform it, is a vestige of God’s character imprinted on our soul. People tell us that work is the result of the Fall. This is not true. Adam and Eve worked before he fell, but free from fatigue or pain. The element of pain which has been infused into work is the result of the Fall. People must work because in this endeavor a person most accurately mirrors God. A person should be prompted to it by natural instincts because they are made in God’s image. We are rewarded in our labor by successful results and the gratification of completion that toiling to towards a goal gives. We are rewarded after it by an approving conscience. Labor should be sensible and purposeful, not movement for movements sake. Work should be practical. Adam and Eve were to dress the garden. It is person’s work to develop and make God's creation as productive and beautiful as possible. God created and gave humanity dominion and power over it to shape it towards some God glorifying purpose.

Some people are prone to plans and speculation never putting thoughts into actions. Planning first is smart but it would be far better to engage in a chosen labor as soon as possible. The world needs practical workers not theorists and writers of textbooks. As the adage goes, textbook learning and the school of hard knocks are two dramatically different things. Some people would undertake great things if they would just start but instead freeze in fear of failure or waiting for the right time. Sometimes the right time is now. It is stated in 2 Timothy 1:7 ~ “…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. ” These characteristics in 2 Timothy are given to allow us to complete our labors properly. The world is full of good people who would be great workers if they would just begin to undertake little tasks first. You usually don’t start at the top, you need to often enter at the ground floor and walk all the steps to reach the top. Climbing a mountain starts with the first step at the base.

I work a white-collar job. Although there is nothing wrong with white collar work, my preference is to often engage in physical labor. This is evidenced by a daily workout regime that includes biking for the last 50 years or lifting weights for 42 years. I feel that if you work outside, it enables you to get plenty of fresh air and ground yourself. It will make you resolute in task and healthy. It would be much better for the health of the world if less people were engaged or cloistered in offices, and more in the broad fields under sunshine. I have long joked that every child should spend a summer on the back of a hay wagon to understand what real labor is.

Pray deeply about your course in life. What your vocation should be. It is a pivotal decision that will set you on a course and will affect you the rest of your life. A man who lets God put him to his trade, is likely to be successful. While we’re talking about praying, we should also transition right to the idea that a person’s trade/work is the benediction of a person’s being. Whatever your labor is, whether it be vocational (job) or avocational (weightlifting, biking) …it is a holy sacred prayer to God in obedience to his example. Work is often hard, but work makes people fulfilled and capable. No woman who wishes to be a mother looks for a man who is lazy or a deadbeat…at least not a woman of wisdom. If labor is fulfilling, than laziness and indolence is misery and breeds apathy and boredom. As they say, “Idleness is the Devil’s playground.” Idleness is associated with sin since it allows one to engage in destructive behaviors and is seen as a lack of purpose. It is a fact that Satan approached Eve, then Adam in Eden when they were idle and were not engaged in labor.

Work occupies our time towards the right ends. It keeps us from mischief. It supplies our earthly and spiritual wants. Writ large it enriches society. Humans were created not to just do as they please in this world. God placed them under moral restrictions including work which are for their welfare. Yet God also allows the ability to set work aside. Labor in the garden transcended the Fall. It is an element of the pre-Fall condition that survived the damage caused by the Fall. Labor changed its form and effects but not necessarily its purpose. As stated earlier, the labor now induces pain and discomfort to us. Yet those effects are only temporary, and we are still rewarded for our toil. Additionally, we are not commanded to work incessantly either. We are also to rest. The Sabbath was set aside for this purpose. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Many things were corrupted by the Fall but the glory and signature of God’s character still infuse things like labor and nature. We cannot work as perfectly as God did or even Adam did in the Garden but the fact that we are allowed to work at all to attempt to restore small pockets and pieces of the Garden (Kingdom) is a blessing of grace itself. That makes labor a gift. By working we can recapture some of the original pre-Fall creation. Your work doesn't define you...but the results of your work do. Strive to acheive a completed work and it is a reflection of God's image in you and of things past...that can be again.

Perhaps that is why when we plant our gardens or do our works, we are still rewarded with the beauty of blooms of flowers, beloved offspring, appetizing fruit or abundant life. In emulating God in labor in all of our figurative gardens, we recapture pieces of Eden. In recapturing fragments of Eden, we manifest glimpses of the Kingdom to come…here in the world now.