First Choice

Because it comes at the beginning, the story of Adam and Eve has to be one of the most well known stories of the Bible, if not of all time. After all the work of creation a perfect paradise welcomed Adam and Eve as they resided in the Garden of Eden. It seems that all their needs were automatically met and they enjoyed a life full of bounty and free from challenge. All of creation existed in harmony and the world knew nothing but bliss.  Surely, even the most inspired imagination comes short in describing or portraying this heaven on earth.

Their blissful lifestyle, while free from conflict, injury and woe still required them to make one important decision. It seems that God told them that they could eat from every tree of the Garden of Eden except one. Within the garden, one tree carried the taboo of forbidden fruit. This tree was given one of the longest names I have ever seen for a plant, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It seems that this tree bore a fruit of sufficient savor that ultimately Adam and Eve made the choice to eat the fruit and met the consequence foretold by God.

They died a spiritual death and became separated from the presence of God and they were removed from the Garden of Eden. While most of the Christian world understands the temptation and the choice to eat the forbidden fruit as the original sin, I find the choices in that story underscore one of the greatest gifts that God has given to man; the gift of Agency or the opportunity to choose. The result of this gift is consequence and there is great wisdom that stems from the power of choice.

The general nature of our world since the Garden of Eden requires that predictable consequences stem from the actions that we take. We show the capacity of willful ignorance when we make choices and then become irritated by the consequences that we wanted to avoid. A curious component of this gift of agency is that we often have to make choices when we lack sufficient information to comprehend the ultimate consequences that follow. In this space I express supernal gratitude for the gift of grace that comes through faith.

Throughout life we make decisions even when it is impossible to fully understand the extent of consequences that will follow. Even a planned pregnancy is teeming with unknown repercussions, all depending on the health, development and sex of the child. We can be as prepared as we believe possible, and we will still not be ready. But being ready isn't the test. What we learn from the Garden of Eden is that we must choose. We should choose wisely and we should strive to understand the effects of our actions before we choose, but we should also relish the chance to choose as it represents one of the greatest gifts of God to us.