You’ve experienced a devastating, even catastrophic, event. Now, it feels like the end of the world as you know it. That’s because it did. The world as you knew it ended.
You Aren’t the First
But it isn’t the first time. Though it may be the first time for you, it isn’t the first time someone has felt this way. I don’t say that to minimize or invalidate your feelings in any way. On the contrary, your feelings are real. Your experience is real.
You’re experiencing pain and suffering like you’ve never experienced before and you want it to stop. You don’t want to go on like this. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to. Oh, you have to go on, just not like this.
Instead of going on feeling hopeless, … Instead of feeling helpless, … empty, … defeated, … paralyzed, … fill-in-the-blank with whatever negative emotion you’re feeling, …
You can feel hopeful. Powerful. Full. Victorious. Movement. Fill-in-the-blank with whatever positive emotion you want to feel.
It. Is. Possible.
“How?” you may ask.
Well, that’s where not being the first comes in.
The First Example
The first happened, you guessed it, at the beginning.
You know the story—the Creation Story, the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 1-2. In the Creation Story, God created the world as Adam and Eve knew it. In verse 1:28, God invites them to join Him in His creation and in creating their lives. God blesses them, then charges them to “Be fruitful and multiply….” That charge is an invitation. It’s an invitation God extends to all of us.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." ~Genesis 1:28
At that point, Adam and Eve had a choice: Were they going to live, and by live, I mean fully embrace all that God was giving them by joining Him in creating a life worth living and a world worth living in? Or not?
That’s the choice God gives us every day. When He wakes us up each morning, God is inviting us to live, meaning He invites us to create a life worth living and join in creating a world worth living in.
My question to you: When you receive His next invitation, are you going to RSVP? And if so, how? Click To TweetAdam and Eve’s Beginning
If we look deeper into the Creation Story, we see how Adam and Eve responded. In their response, we see a model for creating our lives.
Created first, Adam responded whole hog. He joined in creation by tending the garden (2:15) and naming the animals (2:19-20). Simply put, Adam created a life that cultivated life—both animal and plant life. In doing so, Adam joined God in creating a world worth living in.
Next, Adam joined in the creation of Eve by giving a part of himself, his rib (2:21-23)—a part close to his heart. Adam didn’t just show up to the game. He was fully invested in the activities.
Together, Adam and Eve explored their home and encountered a serpent. When Adam had named all the creatures who lived in the Garden, God introduced him to all the residents of the Garden. I suspect the serpent wasn’t among them because had he been, I believe God would have told Adam about him. And Adam would have responded differently when he later encountered the serpent talking to Eve.
No, this serpent was an interloper—someone who didn’t belong. He didn’t belong because his goal wasn’t to create. The serpent’s goal was to destroy.
And if you read the story, you know that’s exactly what he did—destroy. The destruction the enemy wrought was Adam and Eve’s catastrophic event—expulsion from the Garden.
Adam and Eve’s First Do Over
But Adam and Eve didn’t stop there. Though the enemy’s destruction led to their expulsion from the garden, Adam and Eve immediately accepted God’s invitation again. That was after their life-altering event.
That’s major. Adam and Eve lost their home, their community, and their environment (3:22-24). In other words, they lost the penthouse apartment overlooking the park and the beach house on the blue lagoon. In a sense, their actions, not who they were, but their actions redlined them out of the neighborhood. Their relationships were never the same. For instance, their neighbors, the animals, didn’t treat them the same. After the move, some even tried to kill them. In addition, the stress of Adam’s job went through the roof since the ground wouldn’t release its yield like before.
Just one of those things would devastate us. Who am I kidding!?! One of those things did devastate us. That’s why we are here, right? We’re here hoping to overcome that one devastating event that knocked us off course.
Basically, they could still fulfill their destiny. It would just be harder now. Their assignments didn’t change, just the level of difficulty in accomplishing them.
But all was not lost. Though Adam and Eve lost their home, their community, and their environment, they didn’t lose the blessing or the charge (1:28). They were still empowered to complete their assignment. Adam still tended the Garden, but now, Adam would sweat as he did so. Eve would still be the mother of all living, but now, it would hurt to do so. Work and childbirth became labor.
Basically, they could still fulfill their destiny. It would just be harder now. Their assignments didn’t change, just the level of difficulty in accomplishing them.
Knowing they could still create, in the next verse, that is exactly what Adam and Eve did. They join God in His creation by having two sons Cain and Abel. Then, like with the Garden, things went well for a while only for the enemy to come along and destroy their sons.
Adam and Eve’s Second Do Over
But Adam and Eve don’t stop there either. They accepted God’s invitation yet again. This time they have a third son who goes on to successfully join God in creating too. Basically, Adam and Eve kept creating until they succeeded in creating the part of His creation that God created them to create.
That’s the pattern throughout history. Humanity joins God in creating our world, our environment, our society, our homes, our relationships, you name it—only to have the enemy come along and attempt to destroy our (God’s and our) creation. Just like he tried to destroy God’s creation in the beginning.
Now I ask you again: When you receive God's next invitation, are you going to respond? And if so, how? Click To TweetQuestions:
- If your creation is destroyed, are you going to follow Adam and Eve’s example and try again?
- Are you going to give up at the first sign of struggle? The second? The third?
- Following Adam and Eve’s example, are you going to persevere until you create the part of His creation that God would have them create?
