Eve Tells Cain and Abel How it Was

Kathy Barram

Scripture does not record Eve’s words to her sons,
but Kathy Barram has creatively captured what Eve might have said.

Every day was heaven on earth. From sunrise to sunset, from the morning dove’s first call to the song of the nightingale, we lived in fullness of life. As our joy was fierce, our freedom was light.

We did not choose our lives as we did not choose our home, but it was no less than perfect. We, in fact, did not choose each other, but Adam and I were a perfect fit from the start.

I tell you this story, dear sons, for your sake. Were I to think of myself, I would not utter a word about our grand beginnings. You must see by my bitter tears how I suffer. But, because I love you, I will bear up and tell you again and again about that which once was. Perhaps you will listen and learn not to repeat my mistake.

I suppose what I hope you will gain is a measure of fear. Believe me, it is no fault to fear. You will be the wiser for it. For wise fear can bring you home.

As I said, my life with your father was beautiful. What we had once does not exist now. Should you seek it, you would never find it. And though we did not choose it or seek it, we lived it. It was ours.

The world was ours. All that man desires was ours. All that man dreams of was ours.

Now is not like then. You live now as all men live. For in every heart, in every mind, there is a perpetual shadow. All the world now lives in it. It is cool, but not comforting. It is changeless, but not eternal. It speaks of form, it speaks of substance, but has none. It is darkness with boundaries.

Yet every heart wonders at the light beyond the shadow. All know that it must exist. How can there be a shadow without a light?

I must bear witness to that light. Your father and I are the only ones on earth who ever saw it. Be brave now and hear my story.

Your father and I knew that light. We lived in that light. It was warm, it was Wonderful, and it was alive. I don’t know if you can imagine such a light or better yet, a magnificent Someone. But both the light and the Someone are real. The light was our beloved Someone and He was the light.

We knew Him. For by Him and for Him all things, the sunrise and sunset, the dove, the nightingale, the freedom, the joy, everything that was, existed.

Our life glistened in His presence. We played with Him, talked to Him, sang to Him and He played with us, talked to us, sang to us.

We were together with Him. The One by whom and for whom everything was made. We were paint on the brush of the Artist. We were the words on the pen of the Author. We were the very breath of His lips.

We were His and He was ours.