Earth's Sad Day

Adam and Eve are very happy in their garden home, and every day they make sure it is neat and tidy. 

The animals play freely among the trees.  Many have become special friends. 

Eve especially loves the koalas and the coloured parrots. 

Adam is very fond of the horses.    Sometimes he climbs on their backs and takes a ride. 

Elephants wander through the garden.   

Eve greets them gently, ‘Be careful not to step on the flowers.’ 

Eve loves the flowers, especially the roses.   It is a joy for her to wander among them, gently touching their delicate petals. 

The perfume is so beautiful.  She could stay with the roses for hours. 

‘Eve’, calls Adam.   ‘Where are you?’ 

‘I am here dear Adam, with the roses.  Come and see them.  They are so beautiful.’ 

‘Eve, it will be Sabbath soon’, reminds Adam.  ‘We need to go to our place of worship.’ 

‘Yes Adam, I will come now.’  

Eve leaves the roses and together they walk to their meeting place.

‘You know Eve, you are like a rose to me.’

‘Am I my dear?  I don’t smell like one’, she teases. 

‘Ha ha, Eve’, laughs Adam.   ‘No you don’t, but to me you are just as beautiful.’ 

‘Isn’t our Creator wonderful in giving us each other?’ she says with a smile. 

Eve continues. ‘I watched you wake up from your sleep when I was created, and you were surprised when you saw me.’ 

‘Oh yes’, replies Adam, ‘I was very surprised because you are more than I ever dreamed of having for a companion.’ 

                                             ************** 

‘Jesus’, asks Summer, ‘how long did Adam and Eve live in the garden before they ate the fruit?’

Jesus smiles. 

‘Some people think it was the day after they were created, but this is not so. They lived in the garden a long time before they sinned.’  

‘I wish the sad day never came.’ sighs Jeannette. 

‘Look  at  the  garden  now’,  invites  Jesus,  ‘and  you  will  see  what happened.’ 

When the butterfly reaches a little grove of trees, it stops.  

‘So many butterflies here’,  thinks  Eve.  ‘It  looks like a meeting place.’ 

Looking around she sees a lovely green object hanging on a branch. 

‘I wonder what it is?  It is so beautiful.  Oh there are lots of them.    They have gold spots on the side ridge.  So pretty.’                  

Eve then sees one that really fascinates her. 

She looks at it closely. 

‘It looks like it has a butterfly in it.’   

Soon the chrysalis begins to move.   

‘Oh, it looks like the butterfly is coming out.’ 

‘I must go and find Adam.  He will want to see it.’  

                                          ****************

‘Hello Eve’, greets a voice. 

Eve jumps in fright.   ‘Oh, who is that?’   

There is no answer. 

‘That’s strange’, she thinks. 

Eve knows it is not Adam or their Creator.  It doesn’t sound like any of her angel friends. 

Who is it?’ calls the woman. 

Curious to find out who is speaking to her, Eve wanders among the flowers.  

Before she realises it, Eve is in the centre of the garden, right in front of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 

‘Oooh, I must not stay here’, Eve tells herself. 

‘Hello Eve’, says the voice again. 

‘Where are you?   And who are you? she asks. 

The voice is persistent.  ‘I am in the tree.’ 

Eve looks at the tree of knowledge of good and evil.   She can only see a serpent.   Its shiny wings glint in the sunlight. 

‘Eve, you are very beautiful’, flatters the voice.

Puzzled, she replies. ‘Thank you, but who are you? 

Without identifying himself, the voice asks, ‘Eve, has God said you must not eat of every tree of the garden?’ 

Without thinking, Eve answers.  

‘We can eat of all the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said we must not eat it, or touch it, lest we die.’ ‘Ye shall not surely die’, says the voice. 

‘I won’t?’ asks Eve. 

The voice continues.  ‘God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 

‘Oooh.’   

Eve looks at the fruit.   It is so appealing, but God said not to eat it.   

'I wonder why it has been forbidden.' 

She almost makes a decision, but hesitates. ‘

Come on’, tempts the voice, ‘Take one.’  

The next moment, Eve walks over to the tree and picks a piece of fruit. Holding it in her hands she stares at it. 

‘Why not take a bite?’ lures the voice.

Her decision is made, and she takes a bite. 

‘There you go’, gloats the voice. ‘It tastes good doesn’t it?’ 

‘Mmmm’, agrees Eve.  ‘I will take one for my husband. He will want to eat it too.’ 

Picking the fruit, the woman hurries away. 

Eve is excited.  

‘Adam’, she calls.  ‘Adam, where are you?’   

The woman runs to find her husband. 

‘Adam, look what I’ve got for you. Eve cannot stop talking.   

‘Adam, look….   I picked the fruit and it will make  us  wise….  and  it  tastes  good….  and  Adam  I  feel  really  good now….’ 

‘Eve, slow down’, he says. ‘Where did you get that fruit?’ 

‘Someone gave it to me Adam.’ 

‘Who?’ he asks. 

‘I don’t know’, replies Eve.  ‘It was a voice talking to me.   He said the fruit would make me wise. It looked delicious so I picked one and ate it. This one is for you.’ 

Adam’s face pales.  His lips quiver. 

‘Eve, you didn’t pick fruit off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil did you?’

‘Yes I did’, she says.   ‘A serpent was in the tree.  I know serpents can’t talk, but I heard a voice coming from the tree.  I didn’t see anyone, but the voice said the fruit would make me wise.  So it must be good fruit.’ 

‘Eve, you promised never to eat that fruit.’ 

‘I know I did Adam, but I didn’t die, so it must be good.’ 

‘Eve, you will die. Oh Eve!’  

The thought of losing Eve breaks Adam’s heart.     Tears stream down his face as he laments. 

‘Eve, I don’t want to lose you.’   

His wife stands looking at him. 

‘Eve, my beautiful Eve’, he weeps, ‘you will die.’ 

Suddenly Adam makes his decision.  He will eat the fruit, rather than lose his precious Eve. 

‘Give me the fruit Eve’, he says sharply. 

Adam quickly takes the fruit from her hand.  He puts it to his mouth and takes a bite. 

Suddenly a sense of chilliness creeps over them both. 

‘Adam, the light has gone’, shrieks Eve in horror. ‘We are naked!’ 

They look at themselves, fear overwhelming them. 

Adam is angry and shouts at his wife.  ‘Eve, why did you take that fruit?   It was Lucifer who was speaking to you.’ 

‘How was I supposed to know?’ she snaps back. 

Upset with himself and his wife, Adam reminds her, ‘You were told not to eat the fruit of that tree.   Remember?’ 

‘Don’t remind me’, she says, irritated that Adam would remind her. 

‘If you hadn’t listened to the voice of Lucifer, we wouldn’t be in this mess’, complains Adam. 

‘I didn’t know it was Lucifer’, she insists. 

‘But if you hadn’t eaten it we wouldn’t be naked and under the death penalty right now either.’ 

‘Don’t blame me, you didn’t have to eat it’, she replies.

‘You tempted me’, retorts Adam

Suddenly Eve remembers that it will be soon time for worship. 

‘Oh no, how can we meet our father like this?’ 

‘We can’t,’ says Adam, ‘We need to find some covering.’ 

Eve looks at the trees.  ‘What about the fig leaves?’ 

He nods and they begin to pick the leaves. 

Eve then makes a suggestion, ‘Maybe God will forgive us?’ 

Adam is distraught, but her words offer hope.  ‘Maybe He will forgive us’, he thinks to himself. 

‘Yes maybe’, he says to his wife, ‘after all it was only a piece of fruit.’ 

Still lamenting their miserable state, the man complains, ‘Why didn’t you stay with me Eve?  I would have told you it was Lucifer.’ 

‘Don’t keep blaming me Adam.  ‘It wasn’t my fault.’ 

Instead of looking forward to meeting their Creator, the couple now dreads His presence.                                                     

As soon as Lucifer has succeeded in gaining victory over Adam and Eve, he rushes back to his evil angels, calling out at the top of his voice, ‘I won. I won. They fell for it.’ 

The evil angels gather around their leader. 

‘You did it Lucifer.  You are clever.’  

‘Yes, I am very clever. I am glad I did not leave it to any of you.  My experience was needed to pull it off.’ 

‘What now master?’ asks Togo. 

‘The earth is now our headquarters and we move in’, he cries out with determination. 

‘Ooooh’, the devils shout. 

‘Hooray.’ 

‘Yes, it now belongs to us’, he gloats, ‘and the two humans are our captives.’ 

‘Do we have to stay at the tree?’ asks Yami. 

‘Noooo’, he replies, ‘we can follow them all over the earth.’ 

‘This should be fun.’ 

The rebellious angels look at each other with evil smiles. 

Lucifer becomes serious. ‘Come cohorts’, he says, ‘we need to form plans and strategies to make life difficult for the humans 

‘When do we move in?’ asks one of the devils. 

Lucifer retorts, ‘I will let you know.’ 

‘Is it for real we can go to the earth?’ asks another of the devils. 

‘Of course it’s for real. God knows I have won, so He has to let us in.’ 

‘Are you sure master?’ enquires Yami. 

Lucifer looks him in the eye and says, ‘Oh yes, I am very sure.  Michael and His Father can only work with good principles, so legally they have to let us claim our victory.’ 

‘Good thinking’, chorus some of the devils, 

‘We can’t wait.’ 

‘Patience rebels’, sneers Satan. ‘You can’t go there until I say so.’ 

                                        **************

‘Children’, says Jesus, ‘Don’t concentrate on the evil of Satan, tomorrow you will hear some wonderful news.’ 

‘Oh good.’