ever eden

"Oh begin! Fix some part of your day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life! There is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty superficial preacher. Do justice to your soul; give time and means to grow: do not starve yourself any longer." - John Wesley

I think we are hopeful dreamers because there remains all around us reminders of Eden. To a certain extent I speak in ignorance. I never tasted the first fruits of the trees that grew in Edens inspired soil, but I do know what a tree is. Ever since I was a child I have seen the same apple trees topped with flowers in the the spring, shed their snowy petals to sprout fruit in the late summer, and then drop their soggy, rain-laden leaves under persistent fall showers. We long for a time and a place--Eden--where the trees always bear their fruit in season. And that longing is shared in many areas of our lives: a beautiful relationship between the sexes, God waking you up from a deep sleep to present you with a gorgeous wife because He knew you needed one (ha!), labouring in fertile soil, a fun and intimate walk with God, the ability to ask God anything we want and have Him explain as we stroll through the garden. We dream of Eden, but feel the fall and see the fall all around us and it frightens us. Hope is frightened away by our carnal perception. Something changes for the Christian when hope first dawns across the horizon of their night-black heart. There is excitement and a promise that abides in the deep law and sure love of God the Father, and that hope becomes the hope of the Christian. It is a family hope that we are adopted into, and we begin to appreciate Eden all the more because of it. We love the way the Father and Son and Spirit meant the world to be and want it badly to be expressed in our lives. We want love to grow and pain to cease and intimacy with God to be sweetly ever-present. But it is hard because we have lived so long separated. We love beauty and badly want it to enfold our lives, but painfully do not understand it and the way the Father has always worked--in His time. You see there was a moment before time when God created this thing we call earth and thought of all the people and thought of you. Hairs were numbered and names were written and you were loved--before time began. Then sometime after time began a 33-year old Man walked decidedly towards a cross because "His time had come" to save the world that He had created. The preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is a time for everything under the sun. "Give time and means to grow" as Wesley said. Let us take time--this time--to grow up. Let us plant ourselves by the pure and ever-faithful streams of God's word and promises and flourish there, enjoying the perfect dream of Eden, because "He who promised is faithful."