You know, there was something that always haunted me about
the Garden of Eden story. It was a
setup. The garden was put in place, and
Adam was put in the garden. He had no
say over how it looked, what animals and plants it included, or what his role
in it would be. He simply had to tend
the garden and avoid that one tree. But
what if, like me, he wasn’t much of a gardener?
Last weekend I began my own Garden of Eden story. I cleared the brush away, like sweeping away the
demons of my past...demons that goaded me into things I wouldn’t have dreamed
of doing or saying when I was younger. The
thorny plant patch by the garden, like my life, wasn’t full of thorny plants,
but it was the thorny plants that held it all together. It can be awfully hard to let go of those
things that link us to our past – habits, thoughts, beliefs – and move on to
bigger and better things. It can be easy
to hold on to being unhappy, upset…miserable.
For years I subscribed to the “if only” belief…if only this
person and I get along better…if only I solve this stumbling block at work…if
only the world becomes a happier place…then things will get better. But these “if only” contingencies were like
the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – illusions that kept me from making
real progress. All along, there were
plenty of things to hold onto, plenty of things to be happy about…if only I was
to look for them.
This is the problem with the Garden of Eden story. There was no opportunity for growth. In a perfect world, how does one become
better? We strive for perfection in our
lives: more comfortable surroundings, better relationships, being more kind and
caring, showing more love. But for Adam
and Eve, eating the apple led to not merely an awareness of good and evil…it
led to the awareness that perfection is not a physical state, but a state of
mind. It’s possible to find perfection
in an apple or a banana…in a simple meal with friends…in the satisfaction one
finds from a job well done. Growth comes
not always from becoming better – behaving in a more loving way, for example –
but from understanding our behaviors and how they affect others and ourselves. Growth is a conscious – and sometimes
unconscious – process of appreciating that which we have. We aren’t striving toward a perfect life…we’re
looking to see how the things in our lives reflect the perfection that we’re
striving toward.
Every once in a while, something comes along to clear out
the weeds. Like the entrance to the
garden that I uncovered in my backyard, a portal to happiness opens up in our
lives. In my life, embracing the yard
work that I have to do has become such a portal. Unlike Adam in the Garden, I can build my own
garden into what I want.
Hi Stephen. I am reviewing your blog for Blotanical. I'm really enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Erin. I have a unique piece of property with unique demands (and unique opportunities), and it's been a lot of fun writing about it and the thoughts that it inspires.
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