Bearing God’s Image: Gardening and Hammocks

When you picture the garden of Eden, what do you see?  Paradise is a good word to describe my mental image.  So, paradise…isn’t that sitting on a beach the the Caribbean watching the tide roll in?

In the words of Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.”  Genesis clearly states that we were created to work and that began in the garden.

Genesis 2:15: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Some of us enjoy yardwork, or in my case – I grew up on a farm – I always enjoyed growing and harvesting crops.  It turns out that gardening is actually the oldest known profession!

If we all agree that work is important, then we might struggle a bit with rest. This too is central to our creation, as bearers of God’s image, since He set the example from the very beginning.

Genesis 2:1-3:  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Resting is difficult.  I’m not talking about sleeping at night, although some of us could use a hand with that too, because we are so busy.  Resting requires a faith in God that He’ll take care of us even when we aren’t on our guard.  Did you know that horses rest or sleep only half their brain at a time?  This is a design by God to allow them to always be on alert for their predators.  We don’t have to maintain that type of vigil.  God created us in His image, and part of that image is to provide rest that is only available with faith that He will provide.

So, after you’ve given your time to your employer, watched this kids play their sports (or other events), checked off the honey-do list, and done all the gardening – fall into that hammock on the back porch and thank God for the rest He’s about to provide.

Here are the operative questions for us as parents:

1. How do we instill a good work ethic in our kids?
2. How do we emphasize the importance of rest to our kids?

Talk with you family about this delicate balance, and set goals together in order to achieve it.