“And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have…eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return’….Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken” (Genesis 3:17-19, 23, ESV).
Adam and Eve had a dream job. They were dropped of in garden. It wasn’t the kind of garden where you start with dry and weedy dirt. It was the kind where someone else has already done all of the hard work for you. It was the kind where you reap the rewards from someone else’s labor.
All they had to do was tend to the fruits and vegetables and protect it. There weren’t any weeds in Eden. And if they had chucked the serpent out instead of having a conversation with it, everything would have been hunky-dory.
But they didn’t.
And they learned the hard way what it was like to start from scratch. Oh, and they learned what weeds, thistles and thorns were, too.
I’ve learned that my salvation doesn’t indemnify me of the consequences of my actions. I’ve made mistakes and cried out to God to release me from the consequences, and in His wisdom He said, “no.” He has kindly and lovingly pointed me to the rocky soil and handed me a hoe.
Do you find yourself plowing up some hard and rocky soil in your life? Instead of asking God “why?” or asking Him to let you skip the work and go straight to the harvest, why not ask Him to bless the work and help you learn and grow?
More on this Friday. Blessings on your day!
Skipping Stones 
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