211 — Eve: Setting the Record Straight

The "Original Sinner," Eve, mother of the human race, has been vilified as the ruin of everyone.

Before falling for a serpent's deceits, life was perfect. The climate was temperate enough for unapologetic nudity. There were no issues. No tigers conspired to devour them. No fruit unreachable for Eve. No bugs bit or stung. Life was sweet.

A mischievous thought synapsed in Eve's mind, like a serpent a'slitherin'.

The Tree of Knowledge, the school for learning good from evil, was off-limits. Why? Eve wondered what she was accomplishing with her miraculous gift of life.

Adam was clueless, like a man in a mall. Was the seat of wisdom all in one rib?

Eve's excellent brain wondered, Am I a pet? What's my purpose? Pleasing Adam? Pleasing God? Does God want just a lapdog?

Obeying or disobeying was not the test! she realized. Her "test" was whether to use her incredible God-given brain. Really use it! To be her best; seek perfection; achieve self-actualization. Strive, yearn, invoke ambition. To be what she could.

Yes, she thought, that's the test!

Eve had no official intention of reaching for an apple. But she couldn't help it, inventing the "near occasion of sin,"

Tempted by the unknown, take one for the team

Eve sat in the tree's shade, basking in its warning

Of the one thing she shouldn't risk or scheme

Lest exchange a sweet life for mourning

The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was low-hanging for a reason!

Easily plucked, she bit--not tempted, but enlightened. God knew his creations--baited--would. Eve passed the test.

"What were you thinking?" Adam asked.

"That I have free will. I live, choose, then either celebrate the rewards or suffer consequences. But it's life. So, eat, stupid!"

While his sin wasn't very Original, it counted.

Trading Paradise for clothing, painful childbearing, gnashing teeth, and brow sweat, life wasn't easier, but truly existential--a beauty unimaginable. Fulfilling. The loving God allows us to grow in His image by ourselves.

Because of Eve, we passed His test.

Our first parents had made a choice

To know apples from oranges, evil from good

Swap naked for clothes and silence for voice

Choose life's uncertainties, not passive, unearned godhood

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AUTHOR'S NOTES:

For Monday, July 29, Day 211 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge

366 WORDS (without A/N or PS)

Title-accompaniment photo was AI-generated but the Tree of Knowledge was not.

From my entry into the completed "The Dragon Beside Me," (at https://shopping-feedback.today/challenges/the-dragon-beside-me), truncated to fit into the 366-word limit for this challenge.

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THIS CHALLENGE GRINDS ON, 366 WORDS AT A TIME:

There are currently three surviving Vocal writers still participating in the insane 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. Schäfer, challenge originator

• Rachel Deeming

• Gerard DiLeo (some other guy)

Read them. Support them. And eat an apple a day--to hell with the doctor.