As I was driving home from a day of training and teaching I realized that I was ambling about in my brain, looking for a story, a companion, someone to come alongside me and remind me that I’m not alone.
I thought of my friend Eve.
Her story begins in Eden (yes, that Eve) – a perfect place with perfect relationship. I ask her, “Is relational ‘perfection’ just an illusion, a myth, the set-up for a Fall.”
It continues when she meets up with the serpent, takes a bite of the apple, and pain crashes in. We commiserate over the pain of different and divisive takes on that one, fateful story; on my story. We cry together. And then she smiles and reminds me of Danielle‘s card: ‘The serpent was the best thing that ever happened to Eve’ it says. I smile too.
And most of the time this is where Eve’s story ends – Paradise Lost. “I know,” she says. “You feel the lure to assume the same; to spin in the pain of all that’s been lost. I get it.”
My friend Eve sits beside me and tells me I’m not crazy, offers me her perspective, and reminds me that stories aren’t always what they seem. She knows of what she speaks.
Her story has only begun where most think it ends. She reminds me to hold on to hope.
Did you know that the first words spoken outside of Eden (as recorded in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures) were those of a woman, those of my friend Eve? We laugh out loud together. We celebrate and toast our wine glasses over this little-acknowledged fact and I begin to feel the fog lift. “I spoke, Ronna. You can, too. You will, just like me. We cannot be silenced.”
She bears the weight of a story that has been mixed up and twisted yet emerges – full of life, bearing life, using her voice. “You will do the same,” she tells me. “Tell your story as you know it – full of life, hope, and volume.”
East of Eden. No longer perfect. Life goes on. I get it.
Thanks, my friend Eve. ‘Needed you today. “You’re more than welcome” she says. “Now go on. Acknowledge that your desire is good and eat some more fruit!”
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
My thesis to graduate from seminary was on the image of God, using Genesis 1:26-27, so I have long been fascinated with ideas from the Bible’s first book. I even wrote a 13-week study I called “Genesis: Soap Opera with a Twist.” So I’m enormously pleased that you and Eve are friends, too. Over the years I have collected lots of stories and jokes and sayings and cartoons that may interest you and your friend Eve:
“Eve was framed!”
“Adam was a rough draft.”
“God created us from dust, but that’s no reason to treat anyone like dirt!”
Or this story about creation that I posted in 2007:
http://continuingthequest.blogspot.com/2007/04/in-beginning.html
Bonnie Jacobs´s last blog ..Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in B flat major
As always, Bonnie, thank you for your comments, your perspective, your quick wit, and your invitation to read more! I’ll definitely head to your creation-story blogpost in the days ahead.
Thank you for this today, Ronna and Eve: “Tell your story as you know it – full of life, hope, and volume.”
Kristen @ Motherese´s last blog ..An Issue of Choice
You’re welcome, Kristen. And it was good for me to read my own words again this morning through your comment: life, hope, volume. Three meaningful adjectives (and maybe even verbs) for me today.
We often tend to be fearful in sharing our story, even when it twists, pulls, and demands to be told. What we don’t know is who needs to hear it. So, just put it out there! I just found your blog the other day through Kristen, and I am so enjoying popping by each day. I’ve sent it on to other friends. You seem to say just what we need to hear that day.
Suzicate´s last blog ..Whine Or Wine, Which Is It?
Thank you, Suzi. You are right: the telling of our stories is what matters, letting ourselves be heard, trusting our own voices – whether in celebration or struggle. I’m grateful that you’re coming back day after day – as well as for your continued promotion on my behalf! It means a lot.
The more I think about that original sin myth, the angrier it makes me.
There is nothing so precious as the curiosity of an innocent child. That is the core of the youth that we lose as we get older. Always rejoice in the value of being curious and explorative, and your heart will never grow old. The wisest, most experienced among us are the most conscious of how innocent they are.
Positive Mitch´s last blog ..Long live Howard Zinn
I’m with you on the angry thing. ‘Have written much about this and the more I do, the more passionate I become about creating ways in which this story is redeemed. Thanks, Mitch.
Once, in a Sunday School setting with young children working on Genesis, we were talking about what they saw as their God creating the world. The responses included, “God made the clouds purple this morning.” Then someone brings up Adam & Eve. This was, no joke, while they’re slurping apple juice. To skirt a segue toward snakes, I ask if anyone knows who Eve was. Amongst the “I don’t know” and “huh?” came a “She was the first Mommy.” I prompted the “Tell us more,” hoping for some warm “mommy” statement I could build on.
Instead, this 4 yr. old sighed, slurped a little more apple juice, and said, “She was the first Mommy, ’cause she was a angel in the forest and then the bad god told her to do something bad, and the good god got really, really mad and took away her wings and she couldn’t be a angel so she moved and started being a Mommy. But it’s ok, ’cause she liked being a Mommy more.”
Misconstrued distillation of previous Sunday School teachers, parents, “Veggie Tales,” I’ll never know. What I do know is, when I heard this, and as I reI swear to you, I felt Eve smile.
Julianne Fuchs-Musgrave´s last blog ..Awakenings
I’m smiling. Eve’s smiling. And God’s smiling. Definitely.
So much in there, Julianne. Chapters, not blog posts. ‘Guess that’s why I need to write the book! All right, already!
Thank you.
{ 2 trackbacks }