Gardenerd

People study the nutritional needs of humans down to the minutest percentage of minerals the body needs. This is not seen as a waste of time. We study spending habits and define poverty. There are dieticians, phycologists, kinesiologists and scientists everywhere. There is a way of studying spirituality as well.

Like the dietician working on a diet for the overweight and the obese, with the aim of getting them to the perfect weight, there is a way back to the spiritual health. Like all revivals, and like the diet, it involves a repentance from and a drawing too. Just as God created the body and designed a balance so also did He create the spirit and the balanced needs it has. The most basic is the need to recognize the creator and to give back praise.

Obesity is obvious. Attempts to cover up the problem in the early stages with clothing are futile as in the end as obesity tells. It shows a lot sooner than the obese person thinks. In fact, obesity is noticed by people close to us before even the first pound is gained. The change in eating habits, personal perspective and depression all show. People know. These same people also know the solution is not as simple as diet. Or at least most of us “know” and sense this.

They know the unspiritual and the misguided “spiritual” (those words, actions and lifestyle declarations that ring hollow with self justification) despite their best efforts to cover up. The problem is we can see obesity, define obesity and how far off the norm the person is and we can offer ” good” solutions, difficult as they are, to help. The joy of spirituality and victory is a little harder to help with.

The missing joys of real spirituality can be compared to what follows. Blame cannot be avoided as we are all responsible and blaming others, even if they play a big part that needs recognized, is not the answer. The problem includes such things as the lack of good food, and the lack of good and people to enjoy our food with. There is a disconnect between relationship and food. There is a disconnect between food and time. In reality, it has not been that food has become more important and people abuse it, rather it is that food has become less important and people are now unaware of all the missing subtle joys that accompany food.

Only one example with food? (This may be a lie). If you grew your own lettuce and brought the gift and the accomplished joy to the kitchen it is very disconcerting to see your partner opening a plastic bag of salad. Imagine the difference if your green thumb talents were seen as a gift to the relationship and you had the best lettuce on the street. Your diligence was worth pursuing. The perception of your time and efforts being an important contribution makes all the difference in the world.

There is, behind the scenes, many many many spiritual concepts behind growing your own lettuce, making your own clothes, providing your own songs and dance. There is not a single one of them that carries with them the reward it should have in today’s society. Your lettuce has a few bugs, takes too much work, takes too much time, and is too expensive. Your voice cracks, is untrained and cannot be marketted because of CD’s and Ipods which give “perfect” music anytime, anywhere. There is no return on an investment on the spiritual you. You do not produce a reaction with your song or create a family time with your food. The story teller at the table is the TV.

Though of course pride is not good for the “perfect” lettuce, joy at the accomplishment is. There is a subtle visible difference between the two. Maybe it could be defined by the twinkle in the eye because of the joy of giving to others something so recognizably good? I can think of no way of getting this back amongst people. Our soul is sold to gadgets and the instant. People who are trying are seen as eccentric. Spiritually, little by little we have given in to the this world and have lost the ability to truly be ourselves. We are kept children or slaves with fewer and fewer possibilities for creativity and diligence.

This concept goes with money too. Soon the “mark of the beast” will be expected of all good people. It will be like bagged lettuce and canned music. It will be a ration card and a babysitter and it will make it impossible to be spiritual with money. This may not seem bad to those that do not sense deeper expectations and know God but, like a poor diet, the effect will be huge. No more giving to the beggar, no more spontaneous tipping and no more surprise vacations because change has been saved. Subtle yes but so vital.

A sponge paint brush, a small bowl and gloves. These are sometimes the best tools for gardening. In the example being posted we are trying to get grass and other invasive weeds out of periwinkle. The tools described here are really all you have available.

The Roundup was mixed as per instructions for woody perrenials. A very minute amount was placed in the bowl and I proceeded to paint the grass with it. Extreme care was taken to not drench the brush so we could avoid drips onto the Periwinkle, the Big Root Geraniums.

The time it took to “weed” the garden was next to nothing. What took an hour with the Roundup would have taken almost a full day to weed by hand.

The more and more I read my bible the more and more pity I have for those who are the parents of the main characters. There are some lessons in these stories that are so critical to being a successful parent. There is also comfort in telling these stories as parents are not alone.

The story I am going to tell is of Samson’s parents. It is one of the first stories I remember contemplating the parent’s role in and it is the most obvious story to draw humor from. At least I find it funny. The thing is though is that it is only funny historically, it was not very fun while you lived it. Well, it was not fun if you were an “intimate” parent and truly wanted to protect your child.

The start of Samson’s life was on a promise. They were not only to have a child they were to have a Nazarene that was going to deliver Israel. That should have been the first hint of what was to come. Raising normal takes a lot of work, raising special takes more.

They of course immediately updated their status. They embroidered on the donkey’s blanket “we are having a baby”. These status updates would be many in the first 12 years of Samson’s life. “Samson used the potty for the first time today.” “Our son is a Nazarene”. “Our son can beat your son”. “Our son was called by God”. What was perhaps missing
Was a sticker saying “our son is an honor student”.
Living with specialness, at least in the case of Samson, meant knowing how to get blood out of clothes and knowing how to cook with just nuts and honey. It took a lot of personal energy to raise him. There would be fewer play dates with other kids and a lot more time spent in the principals office. Really as I write this it is not so very funny to think that the parents were ecstatic to be promised a child that would deliver. They had no way in the joy of the moment to know the future grief. They had no way of knowing how hard this would be on Samson.

Luckily for them there were no phychiatrists back then to add to their affliction. There was not the volume of books written like there is today. Actually it would be funny if there was. I would like to see God working it out and watch the chess moves played at each stage of growth. I would like when I get to heavan to know the moves played by the parents in working out how to raise a boy like this. They would have had it rough indeed.

You see, every young mother and every child born is special and the curriculum and intuition to raise the child is something these mother’s get to provide. The goals are noble and come out of the communication, lifestyle and social level of the parents experience. All these children will blend in. The ugly ones will be dressed up nice and the smart ones will be dumbed down. Bragging will be listened to and put up with as long as every parent gets equal bragging time. Society works that way. They will have a conscience based on society.

The leaders that rise above this status quo were either raised by extra ordinary parents or had a special touch or calling from an extra ordinary God. Money and poverty round out the mix being big influences in the child’s status as a man and how he is treated by his society.

A person in a freak show is clearly a result of a gift from God, no parent plan it. They may wrap feet in China and stretch necks in Africa but it is unimaginable that a parent could plan to deform a child AGAINST the childs best interest and make a “freak”. A child in extreme poverty or an heir to the throne are really a lot that falls that has nothing to do with parenting abilitities. The arrogance of parents is that they think they have more to do with the end results then they actually do. The funny part is God does what He wants regardless of what we plan.

Samson’s parents could do nothing to help or hinder the calling. I cannot imagine they did not think what they did mattered and, if they lived in the age we live in today, they likely would have read all those special books on parenting and tried. He would have been enrolled in every extra curricular activity and had tutors. In the case of Samson the parents likely were told gently not to bring Samson anymore to kids play dates and choir practice. The tutors would have suggested that Samson was not really suited to math. He probably would not even have lasted on the football team even though he got a scholarship. From what I gather Samson had no concept of “team” and group huddle.

Samson seemed to me to be completely oblivious to others except that he knew how to get there goat and exact his special flare for retaliation. You cannot tell me this only came out when he turned 19 and switched gears. No, he was the guy who toppled out houses, plugged chimneys and put flaming dog poop on stoops. The first few times other kids came with him and they too laughed behind the bushes. When caught however the other kids’ conscience, fear and/or empathy won the day. Samson had none of these.

Samson’s calling did not come out of a social conscience from what I can see. It did not come out of a moral compass if I am right. He was certainly not a leader. He was in fact a rebel like unto Goliath only the enemies had no brave man like David.

The poor parents. Samson was not living up to his calling at all. Sure he showed signs of brilliance and stategy but it had no real lasting effect. He was a terrorist creating fear and making the enemies stay on their toes. A general he was not. The parents must have thought they messed up. It must have mortified them when on top of this he started dating Delilah.

Surely the vows the Nazarene took included vows as to who you dated. His parents must have been beside themselves. Where in heavan’s name did they go wrong? This woman was a bad date. I can just imagine how many girls they tried to introduce him to. How much stress they put on their social network trying to get a better match for Samson. Someone who could reign him in and settle him down. Imagine the devastation when he was finally brought low and ended up incarcerated because of Delilah.

The following is written as an experienced parent. There are several parallels to the Bible that I would like to draw. These parallels are drawn as a way to explain why the Bible is not more detailed. Why God did not stop Adam and Eve from falling. Why there is evil in the world today that God seems to be doing nothing about. This chapter may not get to them all but it can make a start.

Let’s start with the most obvious point. If I did not get what I am today writing and making plain until just last week then how can I expect to get it across to my kids; many of them having already left the house. If I did not get it (and still do not get SOOO very much) and I tried as hard as I have then how can I expect my kids to get it any quicker. In hindsight everything I am today getting was in plain sight all this time, why did I not see sooner? My wife will tell you that I am blind about things obvious all the time. I will trip over a laundry basket, curse in a not so christian way and still miss the point. Why did I not see it and bring it down instead of tripping on it and hurting myself? The Word of God is like this.

Many people complain over the lack of clarity in spiritual matters but they themselves cannot grasp things from others nor make themselves plain. Can you teach a colour blind man what green is? You may be able to get him to go when the light on the bottom of the traffic signal is on but that is not teaching what green is. If knowing Green was the equivalent of knowing “the fulness of joy” then have you failed when your child only goes when the bottom light is lit. Is he or she ok? Now, try writing concisely and making clear to that child the colour green! Good luck.

Now, if your child travels from Ontario to Quebec and he permanently injures himself because he innocently ran a red light what are you going to feel like. (Has he sinned in ignorance and is the family of the person he killed susposed to forgive faster?) Could you have known to explain the difference between the horizontal lights in Quebec and the veritical lights in Ontario. Finally, if in the accident your child’s sight is corrected and he finally sees the fulness of joy of green but finds himself crippled was this revelation worth it?

The point is that God’s bible in the garden would be much the same as God’s bible after the garden. It could not warn Adam and Eve what death was and expect them to get it. They were colour blind to death. No amount of words would get across the concept. Neither could God have been able to explain and teach the way of life before they were crippled by the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.

God could be faithful to warn. God could be faithful to walk with our couple in the cool of the garden to reveal His faithfulness and love. He just had know way of explaining the fulness of it ahead of time. Every child will walk the garden path that all men have trod. Yes the Bible warns of it, yes parents are afraid of it but neither one can really stop the process. Stopping the process means green is never seen. The hardest thing for me to bear and learn in fact is that I feel like such a bad parent when my children come to eat of the wrong fruit, God fully expects it and uses these times to draw men onto and into the fulness of Himself. A parent does not naturally feel so confident and can often regret “making” the child a cripple in order to see green.

Just as God walked in the garden with naked people before and after the fall so also must a father walk with the wounded. in fact a prodigal son rejoicing is much better than an oldest son who is colour blind. Without the knowledge of sin there is no potential for the experience of life. Be warned though and walk in fear all my children. Sin hurts whether done on purpose of through deception and it is anavoidable.

The way that God worked with men in the garden should help us see why His Bible is the way it is. God’s character and His intent towards us is clearer by His actions at this time. Prior to discussing some of what I see it is important to note a principle in the logic I use to draw conclusions. This logic can be seen in the following statement. “God was not working with only Adam and only Eve. There was ,beside man, Satan and the Angels. One awesome thing about God is it is never AND always all about me.”

The Bible also is all about me and not about me. In the Garden the story is about Adam and Eve but it is clearly relevant and pertinent to me. In fact I mean so much to God that it would almost seem as if Adam and Eve and all mankind that followed were created just to show me what I needed to know in order that I might know Him. Technically you the reader are a pawn in my personal salvation. Do not worry, I am not allowed to lie and manipulate you. I am not, like Eve, allowed to even contemplate offering you the fruit that brings death. I need to honour even the lowest of my servants; God has taught me this.

Ah, but you see the opposite is in fact true. The Bible is written for you. Every other reader and the writer are irrevelant. The Bible was written so you and you alone have the information to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. Be good to me as you journey and be successful. Rise up and overcome whatever it is that you battle with so that all the minions to your slavation did not labour in vain.

That was radical and contains more than a grain of truth. After the fall in the Garden God did need another focus group. The first group he chose were the Jews. The second separated people were the Christians. This technically sucks as coming into salvation as a Muslim or as one who is cynical and hurt by the organized church of this age makes for extra baggage. If it means anything this choosing on God’s part is critical to you. He created Adam and Eve, gave them a cool challenge and showed Himself through them so that the “lesser” creatures of myself and my wife might learn. It really is no offense to me; in fact I am glad it was not Mike and Sandra in the garden. I am glad it was not us that so publicly failed so that Adam and Eve would be forewarned. Let Adam and Eve be the focal point.

If I were a Muslim or an “enemy” of the Jews I would say the same thing. If I was a saint amongst the Pharisees or a Saint amongst “the church” I am being abused by the very people that are charged with keeping truth and showcasing the glory of God. That they fail is irevelant. Just as I am not jealous that Adam came first so also am I not jealous that I am not a Jew or a welcome member of organized religion.

The warning should be very clear. God uses Adam and Eve to reveal things about Himself and man. Railing on Adam and Eve because they are the cause of your problems is dangerous. If it had been you you too would have failed. Railing on and attacking the Jews is also very dangerous. I personally have a huge empathy for those who have been slighted by the Jews or the slights made against me by the church but this empathy comes with one clearly defined and known fact in my soul. Except for the grace of God it could have been “Mike” instead of Abraham that kicked out Hagar and Ishmael. It would have been me sitting on the counsel of the Pharisees when Jesus was condemned. It could have been me being an elder in an organized religion making life difficult for the true saints. Finally, it is me that is the patriarch of my family and it is me that hurts my own children. The Jews, the Pharisees, the Elders and me are horrible to those we are sworn to help.

All this was necessary to say to clarify this point. God needs a focal point in order to show all of us who we are and who He is. There had to be A relationship created just as their needs to be a marriage created for the sake of children. This realtionship is not perfect but it is firm. God will not forsake His Adam and Eve, the Jews or the church. He will deal with them in Love and in judgement. He will reveal Himself through them. The Bible would be too long if it were any other way. We would not see how God does not forsake His own. God does not forsake man, though he is forsaken by all the parties mentioned.

We get so confused by all that takes place surrounding the events of the garden that we see everything as a punishment. Getting kicked out of the garden was not a punishment. It was a consequence and an action taken as a result of the following thought process. “Given what has happened what is the best course of action to help my creation prosper, for them to live again.”

The garden was no place for Adam and Eve with their new found knowledge. It needs to be remembered that the consequence of death had already come upon them immediately after eating the fruit. The garden was a great place to house the innocent but it is no place to bring death to life. This took a whole new enviroment.

It was not only Adam and Eve that needed to be considered but also their offspring. Cain is a prime example of the result of our sin, pride and disobedience; he became a murderer. Adam and Eve may not have been able yet to even consider jealousy and envy, they may not have considered a level of pride that fought against God as much as Cain did. Life leads to life and the first generation cannot see the end result of their seed. Death leads to death and the end results are just as mysterious.

God had no choice but to remove them. The Tree of Life needed to be protected. Throughout every era of man there is a further revealing of God to man but never has God made the return to Life from the state of death easy. It can be clear to the individual but would never be clear to the masses. Life would always take a personal repentance not, like Cain, a recognition of wrong in general. Life would have to exist alongside death. In fact it would always exist in death…even in the liberty of Christ there is sorrow and aging and it seems hard to see joy bubble up through the compost of these sins. No, the tree of Life would not have a sign on it like a fast food restaurant.

There is a more loving and merciful side of God in the picture too though. Man being like God needed to have an enviroment where some of the “lesser” characteristics of man were seen to. Providing, caring, creating, imagining and overcoming were part of man. The garden would not allow for any of these, it was too perfect.

There no had to be a way out. The replacement enviroment was in fact a form of Mercy and grace as it provided for this. It could not be designed to only punish as God in His mercy always planned a way back and punishment only does not allow for this. It could not, like the garden, be designed for life either. In fact it would have been a punishment to man to be placed in perfection for many reasons that I can think of but do not here write.

What made the new home of Adam and Eve fit the requirement of leading men home and providing fruit for those that are obedient. There are many examples to help you. My logic for each of the following examples is simply this. “What properties of the new home allow for recognizing personal sin and allow a separation between the results of sin and the fruit of obedience. As well, what attributes would allow man a choice to exercise life. That allows for Joy.

Labour. Man would sweat. This seems cruel but there is a rhetorical opposite to this. Good men could provide, they could build and create. They could love there family. This provides many outlets that good men need. In the garden the needs would have been supplied and there would be no difference between the diligent and resourceful and the sloth. There are so many other things that were cool about work.

There could be children and pain in the child birth. There would be “the created” to look after and be bonded with. It is one thing to understand your own sin but another thing entirely to watch someone you love sin. Love is relationships. These relationships are far more complicated than the relationship of the moon, sun and earth. Man needed the relationship of a child to understand an aspect of the Love of God that they by themselves could never see.

We get so confused by all that takes place surrounding the events of the garden that we see everything as a punishment. Getting kicked out of the garden was not a punishment. It was a consequence and an action taken as a result of the following thought process. “Given what has happened what is the best course of action to help my creation prosper”

The garden was no place for Adam and Eve with their new found knowledge. It needs to remember that the consequence of death had already come upon them immediately after eating the fruit. This death of man could give rise to life like the death from crops, compost, is also useful for life but it would never become ready in the garden. It was not the right place to ripen and it so needed to be ripened.

Not only were Adam and Eve to be considered but their offspring also. Cain is a prime example of the result of our sin pride and disobedience, he became a murderer. Adam and Eve may not have considered jealousy and envy, they may not have considered a level of pride that fought against God as much as Cain did. Life leads to life and the first generation cannot see the end result of their seed. Death leads to death and the end results are just as mysterious.

God had no choice on these principles alone but to guard and hide the tree of Life and to remove his creation from the garden. There is a more loving and merciful side of God in the picture too though. Man being like God needed to have an enviroment where some of the “lesser” characteristics of man were seen to. Providing, caring, creating, imagining and overcoming were part of man. The garden would not allow for any of these, it was perfect.

At a certain time in life the teen should leave the house. He wants to be independent. Some people coddle and keep their kids from leaving the nest and they are hurt in the process. All children will face a time in life where they see about themselves, they will get to see their nakedness and weaknesses in certain areas. They will also feel a need to work out their life and to struggle towards life. Kids need to leave and come back just as man had to leave and come back.

The choice to Love one another was decided in the garden. In previous posts there was talk of man’s inate makeup to want to be like God. Unlike today where deep love and forgiveness are not understood and divorce and anger are rampant, Adam and Eve knew that the problem had to be worked out in Love in order to be worked out properly. They of course had no power to Love purely but they had to bring into the equation the demand to love such as they could.

I am giving them more credit than they deserve. Part of this love is not agape or even Phileo but rather the need to have others around. This story could have played out different had there been more than one couple in the garden. In fact it does play out different as the offspring come into the picture. For now this need to belong, to have a partner and a friend produced some interesting pictures.

It is not rude to think of how cute it was for them to design their clothes together. Strictly speaking this was not necessarily the case but as they were found together I think it is at least a plausible possibility. Did Eve request a bra, did Adam suggest a bra or was a bra even considered necessary.
It is not out of character of this post to laugh at Eve’s response to Adam supplying her with a bra. What is this for, how are my breasts shameful? It is funny too to think of Adam’s response when Eve makes herself a bra and her response when Adam asked what that was for. Today at least Eve would say “because I am sick of you not looking me in the eyes.” The point of course is that in order to be together there was a deeper and different communication needed.

This will tie in more later but let us go back to earlier in the fall. I have touched on Eve’s failure but I think it is important to talk more of Adam’s. Eve’s fall, though she is fully culpable was innocent compared to Adam’s. Eve did not sin against Adam in intent, I do not think she even sinned against God in intent. She was truly decieved. Adam’s sin, no matter how you look at it was against God and against himself. Adam’s sin was “for” Eve and was probably an attempt to help and love. There was no innocence of deception though there was ignorance of the steepness of the cost.

If there was any deception on Adam’s part it was in analysing his own needs. When asking for a companion he did not concieve specifically of Eve and had no way to do so. Eve was God’s creation that filled Adam’s need for a soul mate. It is very important here that this is noted as there was a reason Eve was not created the same day as Adam. Adam had to taste a void that God himself has and this could never have been tasted if Eve was not concieved at some level in his own soul. From his own lack.

Yes that is a digression but very important as Adam was at a loss when deciding to partake of the fruit. He was as I say decieved and incapable of clearly seeing himself in a state of loneliness again. Better to die with than to go on without. Perhaps, even then, there was the inate need to protect and help just as earlier there was the need to teach about the garden. This deception and confusion of soul did not change some very key facts indeed.

Adam knew eating the fruit was death. He knew it was against God and, even in his deception or angst, he knew it was not right. This really cannot go any other way and I might add points to the fact that they were not perfect before the fall. Before the death of Eve there was never a thought of the potential for separation. It was not concieved.

It is highly unlikely that Eve decieved Adam though of course some attemts were made. It is of course likely that Eve did not or could not express what had happened. There is no way in my mind that Adam did not know something was wrong with Eve when she offered the fruit. He had to take in perhaps the redness of the eyes and the new slouch? Was there less eye contact? Were her hands positioned different to minimize her own nakedness? It could be in fact that Eve was curled up in a fetal position weeping uncontrollably. Either way there was not only premonition but quite possibly clear indications of a catastrophe. Adam chose to die with her. Even if Eve did outright lie and told of the virtue of the taste of the fruit and of all the knowledge she had gained Adam would have had a sense of it.

Besides, there was a reason Adam was not tempted and Eve was. The lie “what has God said” would never have flew. The attack on God’s motives, making it seem as if God was jealous and afraid of man knowing what He knew would also never have taken hold. Adam knew God and he knew these were not true. When Adam sins he does so fully knowing that it is a sin. Where the deception of Adam comes in was in knowing how much His sin hurts and separates him from relationships around him. The other reason Adam sins is for relationships and to hang on to what he has or wants. He would not be decieved about sin however.

So Adam and Eve dying together and talking together in death is actually quite sweet. God too knows of this need and we were created with it and for it. Two things that in fact help us be drawn back to God are the very things that became major issues in the Garden. Our nakedness today and the shame it brings and the loneliness we cannot bear. Both give us opportunity to learn and change and are a picture of God’s full intent. Both can drive us to lie and reject God in order to preserve them.

That the Garden of Eden was unique is not a question. Often though we use this difference as a frame of reference to what could be or should be without fully considering what the garden was like. We equate the Garden of Eden to what heaven is like. We make it more perfect than it was and we tend to “blame Adam and Eve” for the fall, for wrecking the garden.

Individuals try to remake Utopia without a clear picture of what elements in Utopia made it the way it was. They do not understand the flaws in themselves that would make Utopia fail the same as Adam made it fail. The Garden is shut and focusing on remaking it politically, individually or as a church are impossible.
It is necessary to make sure people realize that what follows is a discussion that includes possibilities. There is much confidence in what I write of course and some things are just plain true but all in all this is not meant to be a study ending in a declaration.

Let’s start with what the Garden was not. It is not heaven and is actually not even very close. Heaven is far above the garden in many ways. In the Garden Utopia was gained through ignorance and innocence, heaven is a place of knowing and forgiveness. The garden was never meant to be eternal, God had a plan and knew what he created. Heaven is eternal.

What was the first hint for me that the Garden was temporary and that man fell short. It was when Adam was lonely and asked God for a mate. What follows is subtle but oh so true. There was no sin per se in what was asked. The knowledge we have now let’s us surmise what weaknesses were potentially behind the request. It was shallow and self serving when compared to what God considered when creating Adam. It was also a request made without the corresponding capacity to make it happen and the person that God is to make it work. Logically two truths exist. Eve was as much below God as Adam and would therefore not be perfect. The second is that how could there be any want in perfection. It was a natural and right request but it was not a “perfect” request.

I doubt that Adam considered or planned for Eve’s joy the same way God considers and plans for ours. Though God was pleased with His creation and made man to fellowship with He made him and designed him with a consideration for what man needed. Adam could be said to request a slave to his needs, it can be said that God wanted a servant and a partner to himself. It is doubtful that Adam truly considered the difference. It is more likely that he focused on a void and very unlikely that it even crossed his mind that another person would have a different response to the world and himself than what he currently experienced.

If I am right, no
matter how perfect Adam was, there would always be a certain condescending needed on Eve’s part to Adam. Adam came first and had so much knowledge and so many experiences to share. He would teach Eve the names he gave the animals, teach her where the water was and where the bathroom was. It was natural for Eve in the joy of existence to soak all this in. What is also likely is that the learning of the newness of life in the Garden and the language that Adam used to express it would become known. I guarentee that Eve came up with new names for colours, that she had different favourite animals and that she preferred different tasks. Could this really be unavoidable?

Would the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil not be a greater temptation to her than Adam? Just as Adam felt a loneliness could not Eve have been predispositioned to this decision.

The conclusion, written in another post in more detail is that none of the loneliness, the curiousity, the enabling and the learning to be co dependant prior to the fruit involved sin. It was not sin to them. Or rather, like a rock on a hill filled with potential energy, so were Adam and Eve poised to fall.

I used to coach YMCA basketball. This was a “non competitive” league. It was hilarious how naive the organization was however. Kids that came kept score surreptitiously and knew what team was the best. The kids talked, as all kids do, about who had the best father, the best house and who was the fairest of them all. In fact, something most people would miss, there was even that group of kids who competed to see who was the least competitive. They all had egos and they all competed.

There was one boy on the team who felt more deeply than the rest the “shame” of being the lowest ranking team. This story is about what I tried to teach him about competition.

A couple of things are important to note. The first one is that this boy counted on natural selection to win the battle. He was the oldest and the biggest boy on the team. He had stronger arms and surer shots. What this boy did not get was that there is a need to lose something of yourself in order to truly be a competitor. Competition, properly applied, would teach him what he was not good at and would teach him the need to practice. As it stood this boy was content to complain about the players on the team less capable then him.

There were two lessons his coach brought him. The first is I called a girl that was on my team the previous year. She agreed to join for the year. She arrived at the gym while we were playing “around the world” (a game where you started at one point and you shot a ball at the hoop. If you got the ball in you could proceed to the next until you came back to the original point. There were about 9 baskets that you had to sink in order to complete the round) The current bunch of kids had been playing for sometime and had not moved off the first point. I laugh when I think about the comment Jerry made. “A girl! How is that gonna help us win?”. He was not laughing when Amy went around the world in the time it took him to get to the second station.

This boy must have stayed awake nights thinking about his next play. Within a couple of weeks Jerry came to me to intercede for one of his poor friends who should be allowed to get off the street and play basketball with the YMCA. I heartily agreed with him, praised him for his concern and invited his friend out.

The next week I was not really surprised to find out his friend was a 6’2″ black boy who could jump. There was something disingenuous in the initial request, this went over the top. What a nice guy his friend was and this actually made my lesson on competition easier so I looked forward to watching him play.

What I did next was a killer move. I simply went to the opposing coach and asked if he needed a player as we had enough. He readily took the new boy (Tom for the sake of the story) and placed him on his team. There is no need to record the reaction of Jerry, the point of reading is we can all imagine. Soooo funny though.

It was a wonder to watch Tom play. If competition were a religion then Tom would have been sainted because of his grasp of the concept. First off, he was good and it was a wonder to watch him play. Competition should make everyone improve, should make some people stars. Tom was a star. the next thing you noticed about Tom is that he NEVER shot at the hoop, never scored points. He would challenge our defense and he would challenge his own teams offense but he never took a shot. He truly did not care about the score but he did care if everyone of his teammates enjoyed and improved. He encouraged everyone and was a real joy.

Tom grumbled.