Dear Eve,
A product of divine creation,
Never a child, a daughter or maiden,
Molded out of a bone taken from the man,
The first to be called Woman
The first one to be a wife, the first to be a mother,
The first woman not born in sin,
But the very first sinner,
Man’s counterpart, his companion,
But also the reason that made him falter,
You watched and took care of the garden,
But you were the first victim to the tempter
You slept under the tree, with Adam near,
The night sky dark blue, the stars all clear,
God was in control and hence no fear,
But why didn’t you think,
In the river of lies, you chose to sink,
And then sin happened,
In the fraction of a blink.
Thank you for you are one of the main
reasons for the genus ‘Woman’
The perfect creation, not dust but from bone,
the strong human,
Radical yet submissive, a beautiful wonder,
But why did you slash God’s trust asunder?
Eve, I wish you were stronger,
So that devil’s bait you could conquer,
But you ate the forbidden fruit,
Gave it to your partner too,
A bite that brought disaster,
A shame that broke through
You have the label of being the first to do many things,
A dressmaker being one among those beads in your string,
Dress—a reminder till date of that first sin,
the one you made with leaves to cover your sin
I am sorry you were thrown out of Eden,
Thanks to the crafty plan of the demon,
A bite that separated man from God,
Disobedience that made man flawed
Your mistake taught me the value of choice,
To discern, to understand and only listen to God’s voice.
Love,
The ________ Woman
When I started this poetry series on less-spoken women of the bible, little did I know that this 21-day journey would bring about a shift in me. I learned from their lies, their loss, their mistakes and their testimony. Every flaw gave me a perspective of what could have been done right in that moment, every testimony inspired me to grow in the Lord and every story taught me something unique that I never picked up before.
We have reached the end of this series—an enlightening journey, to say the least. Interestingly, the first woman in the Bible is the last in my series. You may ask why. There is no particular reason. As a matter of fact, Eve was initially the first in my list. But every time I read her story, I saw her in a new light. Often vilified as the reason for the sin, growing up I always thought of her as a bad example. One thing that hit me as I was working her piece—she was the most privileged woman. For starters, she was not born out of sin, instead God Himself performed the first ever surgery, took out the rib from Adam and made her from scratch. Secondly, she was put in a place where there was no pain, fights, struggles or disease—the Garden of Eden was a mini Heaven for the matter. It doesn’t stop there though, God had already created a companion for her. What more can anyone ask for?
Despite being super privileged, she felt the need for more and hence fell for the serpent’s offer. This bit taught me a big lesson—be content with the privileges that God gives you. Oftentimes, we pray for things that we think would make our lives better and help us walk with God better. In the process we forget that there is nothing that the world offers that can help us in our walk with God. Eve must have felt that being just like God might help them to be with Him in a better fashion. In the pursuit of this, she forgot the one big No that God had told them. And, of course, the deceiver did a pretty good job convincing her. We are similar to Eve in this matter. We run behind worldly things that we think might improve our relationship with God forgetting what God feels about it in the first place.
While it is good to work towards creating a stronger bond with Jesus, we need to understand that nothing we do can make God love us more or less. He loves us just the way we are. Having said that, the only way we can draw closer to God is through faith—trusting that He holds everything concerning you in His hands.
Another bit that hit me is the fact that Eve was the first dressmaker. I had never thought of this role for her. Wearing clothes means so much more than covering ourselves—it reminds us of the first ever sin. Ever thought of it that way? The reason we have clothes today is a result of sin.
So many firsts, so many things did she pioneer and yet, she is always looked at as the first to fall, the reason there came a wedge between us and God. Is she the reason that we are tagged the weaker gender too? The gender that can be easily deceived and exploited? Is crime against us because of that very first fall?—a way man is taking vengeance for our wrong decisions? I have asked all these questions and till this day, I haven’t got answers for it. But maybe I don’t need it for I know how God turned Eve’s fall into something new. How He made beauty from ashes—He gave her the big responsibility of child birth. Imagine, she was never a child nor did she have a mother to learn from. And with no prior experience she went on to be the first mother.
I have no titles for Eve for she holds more than just one and it would be unfair if I just stuck to a single one. She is the first wife, the first fashion designer, the first woman to be not born out of sin and yet the first to commit it, the first cook, the first mother, the result of the first surgery by God—the special creation, made not of dust but from the rib of a man. Makes me ask—what is stronger, bone or dust?
That pretty much answers a lot of questions.
The biggest reminder in her story—know what you are made of!