Part 2 of 6 parts being posted Saturday evenings. To read Part 1 click on: ADAM & EVE ASK: HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT? (Original Post) Why must we struggle with life? This six-part series on Adam and Eve responds to the question: How did they get to the point of having to struggle with life? Adam and Eve had once had a relationship to die for. Its perfection included daily walks and communion with God. Their peaceful, tranquil life included responsibilities of stewardship of the garden in the midst of which they lived. Caring for the garden had been easy. Gentle rains nurtured lush crops. Their work extended to caring for the other life in the garden. That, too, had been easy. In the garden the lion and the lamb were friends, often taking their rest time together in the shade of a tropical tree. Eden’s garden was the result of God’s design and hard work. A five day labor of love created order from a chaotic emptiness. Then, on the sixth day, God added animals. Standing back and viewing His workmanship, He saw it was awe-some. He decide He would create a steward to maintain, preserve and propagate His earthly creation. He took painstaking care to shape man into something useful and beautiful, something bound to the earth he’d already created and declared good. Something different from the animals. Something designed in His image. Being the craftsperson I myself am, I can picture God working at this “project.” What material should he use? Clay would connect the man to his earth. I recall being in an art class and expected to “create” something “unique” out of a piece of clay. It isn’t easy. It wasn’t easy. Actually, it was so difficult I failed the project. God succeeded better than I did. He created a being designed on, but far more complex, than his other creations. Man had self-awareness, self-knowledge and self-love. Adam was the result of God’s loving labor. Adam had a special relationship with God that defined man’s nature yet set him apart from his creator. This new creature represented all other creatures before God, living, speaking and acting on their behalf. Man interceded BEFORE God FOR the community of creation. The new creature also represented God’s glory and will in the world. As such, man was God’s proxy in the community of creation. Man interceded FOR the community BEFORE God. It was a great honor, privilege and responsibility for Adam to be steward of the earth and intercessor of other life. One of his first jobs was the naming of all the animals. Upon the completion of this task, God agreed with Adam that he should have a helper more like him than the other animals were. Visit www.ProBlogs.com/CarolynCHolland next Saturday evening, when Part 3 of ADAM & EVE: HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT? will be posted. Meanwhile, visit this site daily to read regular posts, and visit the Beanery Online Literary Magazine at www.ProBlogs.com/beanerywriters and scroll down the categories to find more enjoyable reading. Remember to add both these sites to your “favs” list. | 
