HEAVEN IS IN OUR HEART
Our search for the lost Paradise for the Garden of Eden has proven quite elusive until now. Most of us are familiar with the story of Adam and Eve, and how they fell out of God’s favour by disobedience and banished from Garden of Eden which was God’s paradise for mankind. For most of us, we take a literal approach to the Garden of Eden and some have even gone further to explore the lengths and breadth of the Earth in search for this elusive and hidden garden that promises all that a man could ever desire to eat, enjoy and indulge.
While this futile search may make a good storyline for a Hollywood movie or a film series, it dawned on me that like other Biblical stories and parables in the Bible, perhaps there might be a hidden meaning in Man’s quest for Paradise.
Paradise has over many years meant several things to different people. Some refer it as the after-life. To others it’s a geographic location filled with beautiful flowers- a horticulturist heaven, as it appears in religious language as God's garden, where man was placed at first by his Creator. I don’t claim to decide which is right or wrong; however this is an alternative point of view. Paradise is here on Earth, well within our reach without the need to explore the Seven Wonders of the Earth or jump on a ship and travel halfway across the world.
For most of us Christians, we can all agree that God created Man in the Garden of Eden and filled it with all His goodness much like with the Earth we live in. When Adam disobeyed God however he was banished from His presence and out of the Garden of Eden. In my opinion of the Garden of Eden, God created Man and planted him in a garden where he (Man) too was to grow and bear fruit to fill this entire beautiful garden. Man in his sinful nature disobeyed God and fell short of His Glory and got banished from God’s presence. Christ through is obedience restored Man back to His former glory and fit to come to the presence of God by dying on the Cross for our sins. The presence of God is Paradise in itself. Most Christians will agree with this train of thought.
Now here’s the interesting bit, our very souls are all flowers in God’s garden. A garden that calls for sunlight, nourishment and water to grow; in this garden are the seeds of compassion, love, forgiveness, commitment, courage and all the qualities that inspire and encourage us. Alongside this garden has been sown by the Devil seeds of violence, jealousy, envy, strife, prejudice and all other hurtful and destructive ways of living that has become common place in our world today.
The good seeds that grow within us and make us beautiful flowers in God’s garden are those we give our attention to. Our attention is like water and sunshine and the seeds we cultivate will grow and fill our garden. However should we decide to grow the bad seeds of scarcity as planted by the Devil- greed, avarice, lust and deceit- then scarcity is what will fill the space of our life and our world! However should we rightly decide to tend to the seeds of sufficiency with all our attention, then we will enjoy a bountiful harvest and find that Paradise is indeed within us.
In our world today most of us have neglected or long forgotten the art of growing plants and nurturing nature. It takes a dedication and attention to grow a beautiful plant, and little or no time to grow shrubbery or weed. So when we look over the fence and have a sneak preview of our neighbour’s shrubs already in full bloom, it’s easy to think to ourselves, “Hmmm why is the grass always greener on the other side?” Or “Honey, there must be something wrong with our seeds”.
And so we borrow seeds of weed and roadside shrubbery from our neighbours. These may grow fast initially but we will most definitely not have the paradise or beauty of nature which we initially hope for. I’m not a horticulturist but from experience and the little knowledge retained from Biology classes I know that the weed will choke up the Red Roses, Lily of the Valley, Freesia bulbs and daffodils previously planted in no distant time. Just as these earthly seeds don’t cross-pollinate, the same principles also applies to our spiritual seeds as well!
As illustrated by one of the several parables in the teachings of Jesus, at the final day the weeds will be separated from the wheat in the vineyard and all will come to see the beauty of God’s own Garden can be found in mankind and not some heavens high above or a lost island in the Caribbean.
In the fertile soil of our appreciation of this new way of thinking, new possibilities take root, and it grows without limits in the light of our attention in keeping God’s word and paying attention to growing the right seeds of love, sharing and compassion in our hearts.
God bless your heart!
Ebuka Anichebe
http://ebukaanichebe.blogspot.com/
