STORY OF GOD

Before the first shadow touched our hearts there was only light

I'm not just talking about the sunlight

Though it filtered through the canopy like liquid gold

Warm on my skin I'm talking about life

The air itself tasted sweet like honey and rain

Everything hummed

The garden wasn't just a place we lived it breathed with us

There was no fear here fear hadn't even been invented yet

A lion this massive beautiful creation

Would lean his heavy head into my touch

Everything was connected

Everything was exactly as it was meant to be

And Eve when I look at her

I finally understand what God meant when He said

"Very good"

And then there's Him

It's the cool of the day that's when He comes

You always know when He is near

The air changes

Expectant like the atmosphere itself is leaning in to listen

We hear the sound first not heavy footsteps

But a shifting of the atmosphere

A weight of goodness moving through the trees

And we run we run toward the sound

His voice it isn't just sound

It's the foundation of everything

When He speaks it's warm

Resonant it vibrates in my chest

We talk about the colors of the water

Why the monkeys chatter so much

What it means to be us

There's no gap between us

No hesitation no hiding it's complete

It's a feast right?

Everywhere you look

Tastes the explosion in your mouth

We're completely free

Except in the very center

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

It's the only boundary line in a world without walls

God is very clear "Don't touch it

The day you eat it you die"

Die?

The word just hangs in the air

It means nothing to us

We trust Him of course we do

But I find myself near it more often than I admit

It's stunning

The fruit looks different

Doesn't just look delicious it looks wise

Eve

One day I'm by the tree and there's this voice

Smooth like polished stone

It belongs to the serpent the most clever

The most beautiful of them all

He doesn't shout he doesn't threaten

He just asks a question

"Did God really say you can't eat from any tree?"

It's a simple question but it shifts the entire world on its axis

Suddenly the God who gave us everything sounds restrictive

The serpent tells me I won't die

Tells me my eyes will be opened

That I'll be like God that's the lure

It's not rebellion it's ascension

It's the promise of more

He makes it sound like God is holding out on us

The fruit is heavy in my hand

Its skin is smooth cool to the touch

The tension is unbearable I bite

The taste isn't just sweet or bitter

It tastes like everything at once the world tilts

She brings it to me her eyes are wild

My gut screams that this is wrong

My partner my reflection she is still standing

I trust her more than I trust the voice of God

I eat and instantly the light fractures

It's like a mirror shattering inside my soul

The air turns cold

I look at Eve she looks at me

And for the first time I mean really for the first time

I see we are exposed vulnerable naked

This is shame

We scramble panicked

We grab these big rough fig leaves stitching them together

They scratch my skin they cover nothing

And then we hear it His footsteps

The sound that used to mean love that used to mean safety

Now means dread absolute dread

We run we hide in the thickest

Darkest brush we can find holding our breath

And then His voice it's not angry not shouting

It's worse it's heartbroken "Where are you?"

He knows exactly where we are physically

He's asking where we've gone relationally

Where we stand trembling covered in itchy leaves

The question comes gentle but firm

"What have you done? Did you eat the fruit?"

Is this where the fracture deepens?

The break spreads?

I look at the woman I love and I I point

"The woman You gave me" I blame her

I blame Him

And I point to the serpent "He tricked me"

The blame shifts faster and faster

We throw responsibility anywhere but ourselves

And the verdict comes down the world is broken now

Because we broke it

The ground will fight us birth will be a battle

Relationships will be complex painful and death

That word we didn't understand now has a shape

It has our shape

But then the strangest moment

He kneels down He takes an animal

One of the creatures Adam named

It's the first death we witness and He makes clothes for us

Skins that are heavy and they smell of loss

And they cover the shame the fig leaves were our idea

The covering is His

It's this terrifying tender moment

He's judging us yes but He hasn't abandoned us

But we can't stay we've chosen knowledge over intimacy

He walks us to the edge of the garden

The air gets thinner out here

The ground is hard under my feet

As we take that final step out of Eden

We look back and it's overwhelming a celestial being

An angel blazing with light and fire

Holding a sword that spins like a whirlwind

The gate slams shut with a sound that echoes across the universe

We're outside it's cold

The sun is setting we lost paradise

We lost the unbroken connection we broke the world

And that's how the silence began the separation

But as we walked away into the dust and the thorns

We carried a strange promise with us

A whisper from God about a coming savior

Someone who would crush the serpent's head

The door to the garden was closed

But the Story of God?

It was just beginning