So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden
to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out,
he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden
cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth
to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:23-24 (NIV)
Our Christmas tree was visible from the street, shining with twinkling white lights through the bay windows. On the snow-covered lawn, stood a blue spruce tree adorned with colorful lightbulbs, almost as tall as our two-story house. Inside, my siblings and I ducked our heads under the tree branches decorated with commemorative Hallmark ornaments to count our presents that had been carefully placed to not derail the Union Pacific Railroad model train that rounded the tree skirt.
In my eyes, my childhood home was perfect, and not just at Christmas—which is why it was so hard to say goodbye after fourteen years. My family had lived in that blue house in a small Nebraska town since I was three years old. But at 17, with tears streaming down my face, I locked the front door one last time, as my mom, sister, brother, and I left the house behind. My parents had divorced a few years prior, and I was about to gain a stepfamily in a new house.
Certainly, there aren’t cherubim waving a flaming sword to prevent me from seeing that house again, but now, as an adult, living 1,600 miles away, and my two sets of parents having retired far from my hometown, I have no reason to return. My old house that fills me with nostalgia feels out of reach, a place I can’t really return to—at least not as I knew it.
In reading Genesis 3, I couldn't help but feel the loss of home. Once Adam and Eve were banished from the only place they had ever known, they could look back, but never enter again. It was now heavily guarded. They would never get to experience God’s provision in it again. From dust, God made Adam, and now he would have to work the dirt from which he came. Pain, frustration, and eventual death would be the first consequences of sin, all because Adam and Eve made the choice to disobey God. I have to wonder if they missed their perfect life with God in the Garden. Did they long to return to their Creator?
We know that God longed to be with them, and never stopped pursuing a relationship. Before he sent them away, he showed love and grace for his children. After their disobedience, he still made clothes to cover their shame and guarded the Tree of Life so they would not live forever in a sinful world. As Adam and Eve’s family grew, sin continued to spread for generations to come. But God had a plan, one that included a baby. Jesus would be sent to earth as the Savior, and one day, all those who believe in him will join him in a place that is even more perfect than Eden.
