The Gift of True Connection

The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, saying, “I have produced a male child with the help of the Lord.” Next she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel became a herder of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain …

Waiting for Eden

Genesis 3: 20-24 Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.  The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.  Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the …

Pain Awakens Us to Our Self-destructiveness

Genesis 3:17-19  To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you. Through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you …

Love Hurts

Genesis 3:15-16 [The Lord God said to the serpent,] "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed.  He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel."  To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.  In pain …

The World Breaks Apart

Genesis 3:13b-15 And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it."  The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go and dust will you eat all the days …

God’s Tears

Genesis 3:13a Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" We are deeply relational creatures, bonded in our very roots, so that everything I do, however private, impacts others in powerful ways.  With every choice I make, I bless or curse not only myself, but everyone I touch, especially …

Shifting Blame, But Still Guilty

Genesis 3:12  The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”  Before we discover grace and still operate under a legalistic system, we have only two ways to compensate for failures—try to pay for them or try to excuse them.  In the first case, we …

The “Hound of Heaven”

Genesis 3:11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  Shame distorts our thinking and behavior.  It makes us fearful, secretive, distant, and obsessive.  It disorders our priorities, twists our values, and hollows out our relationships.  God continually invites …

The Fear of Being Caught

 Genesis 3:10 He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”  Shame is the impulsive response when we befoul ourselves.  Every act against God’s good will is degrading and harmful to ourselves, others, and our relationships.  It is inherently anti-social, tearing …

Lost Treasures

Genesis 3:9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”  This query rings down through the millennia to every one of us, the quintessential spiritual question: “Where are you?”  If I asked myself this more often, looked around and became aware of where I am and why, I would catch …