Piece of Eden

What or who is Eden? A wise mentor of mine once told me that as much as I need to address the ugliness that lives in the world and our hearts, I also need to speak of the beautiful times, the Edens. What she meant was that I need to remind myself and others of the positive and happy times in my life when everything was as it should be. Maybe it was a season of life, a single memory, or just a moment. A time where I experienced Eden. A moment where we were in the garden and life was perfect. And that is what I want to write about today. A time in my life when all was good. All smiles and hugs, no meltdowns and anxiety.

Strangely enough, it was hard for me to pinpoint one Eden. As I was thinking about happy memories, my mind jumped from adventures with Trina to playing guitar with Rusty to cuddles with Viola to giggly jewelry shows with Kendra to epic days with Alicia to late nights with Heidi to great conversations with Danny to watching the Little Mermaid with Baylee**.

My perfect moment doesn’t include any of those people listed though. It includes Robert. Odd that I’m writing about him, right? Odd that when I think of a perfect moment, something revolving around him pops into my mind, right? A little. It’s a little odd. But, well, we’re just going to go with it.

Like any girl, I live in a constant state of fantasy inside my head. I play out my life as though it is an episode in an epic TV drama, complete with swelling orchestral music and the big dramatic will they/won’t they type of cliff hanger endings. Sound familiar to anyone yet? Sadly, like in most fantasies, they don't usually play out the way you envision, and you're left with the aching reminder that your life will never be like it is in the movies. But sometimes, if you’re lucky, you do get a glimpse of that fantasy.

Last summer Robert was the youth intern at our church and he got to teach a handful of lessons to the high schoolers. So I got to help. Ok, I wanted to help. After all, I was the Bible student who’d taken and owned studying & teaching classes, a preaching class, and Bible classes. So, because I’d taken these classes, I was an expert. More of an expert than Robert, at least.

I don’t remember all the detail leading up to the Eden moment, but we ended up sitting in his truck with a stack of Bibles and commentaries with a few of my textbooks that I’d insisted on bringing so I could look smart. We spent a few hours combing through commentaries and flipping through the Bible with my occasional unhelpful comment from a textbook. We figured out enough of his lesson for the next morning and could call it quits for the night.

Studying the Bible with Robert. That was my Eden. I don’t know what could have made that time more perfect. It was as though time stood still and nothing could ever happen that would rob me of the joy my heart was feeling at that exact moment. I was studying the BIble with my best friend. Nothing about this time fell into my fantasy, but it was still perfect. I was content and complete. I had my Eden. Right there in the truck.

As most things, the moments of studying the Bible with Robert came to an end. Life moved forward and we went our separate ways. However, the happy fun memories still occasionally linger

What bits of Eden have you had in your life? What moments have you had where life felt wonderful and all the crap this would brings seemed to disseminate? Hold on to those moments. They’re hopeful reminders that not all is lost. There is still good in the world, joy to be found, and love to be experienced. Smiles, hugs, giggles. It’s all still out there. There is still a God who sees our hearts and seeks to bring us joy and pleasure. Eden still exists, we just have to look for it. Take a moment to pause and remind yourself of Eden. Because we all need a bit of the garden every now and again.


**Yes, watching the Little Mermaid made the cut for happy memories. Ariel’s my favorite princess and it was (still is?) Baylee’s favorite, so it was an exciting night. Plus it was my birthday. And we sang and danced along to the Disney movie. It was just a really great day.