Daydreaming

RIDIN' FOR THE BRAND

I sat on the edge of a small valley with my back against a large oak tree. It was one of those hot, late
summer days where daydreaming seems to be the appropriate occupation. I was fully engaged, thinking
of the days of a bygone era. Cowboys chasing Indians chasing unimaginable herds of buffalo all in a
great wide open country with no barbed wire from the Rio Grande to the Canadian border. My
daydreaming was interrupted by a small orange-brown butterfly flying in front of me. I extended my left
arm across my left knee and opened my hand. The butterfly lit on my extended hand. It remained there
for a full fifteen minutes slowly opening and closing its wings, facing me. I gazed back at it, amazed at
this trusting little creature. Then, in its own time, it spread its wings and flew into the tree.
The experience seemed deeply significant even when I did not understand it. “Why?” I asked. “Why did
God send this small insignificant creature to sit on my hand and take me from my daydreaming?” Even
more mysterious was why I allowed it to just sit there? I usually have more important things to do than sit
and look at a butterfly.
I begin to think about Adam and his life in God’s garden. I have a habit of picking the strangest times to
think of such things. “What was life like for him?” I mused. All he had to do was sit and watch the
butterflies. He didn’t have the assortment of troubles and temptations to confront him and occupy his
mind that we contend with today. He lived in complete harmony with his Creator. I couldn’t have been
more wrong! For several days I just couldn’t let it go. My mind kept coming back to that butterfly.
I started studying the Genesis account of the creation, again. I noticed that after God planted His garden
“eastward in Eden,” He put Adam in the garden “to tend and keep it” (Gen 2:15) Now I knew that, but for
the first time I realized that Adam had real work to do. Not the laborious drudgery we find ourselves
caught up with, but the joyful, completion of purpose we all seek. We do not know how large God’s
garden is so we do not know just how busy Adam was, but we can be assured that he was up to the
task. It’s probably a good guess that he had more to do than tip-toe through the daisies looking at
butterflies.
The Word tells us that Adam named “each living creature.” (Gen 2:19-20) That little task should have kept
him out of mischief for a while. How’d he do that? God brought the creature to him and whatever Adam
called the creature that was its name. He was a busy man. Just maybe God equipped him for those
tasks when He scooped up a handful of dust and breathed into him the “breath” of life.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when we are in harmony with those around us. Discord is
disruptive. Discord destroys. Adam was in harmony with his Creator and accomplished all the tasks
given him. Each day ended with Adam taking a walk with God in the workplace. It seems that even then,
harmony was measured one day at a time.
Then, in one careless moment, Adam chose to believe Eve and not to believe God. In one careless
moment life changed for Adam. He found himself doing things he never had time to do before, like hiding
from his Creator. Now that was a foolish thing for a smart man to try to do – hide from God!
The harmony had been destroyed and life as he knew it changed. Adam couldn’t just say, “I’m sorry” and
everything would be all right. He couldn’t explain that “I didn’t really mean to do it” and have everything
return as it was before his little hiding episode. Adam’s tasks became toil. He was introduced to sweat,
thorns and thistles. That will slow you down. Thorns and thistles have a way of diverting your attention.
However, in the midst of all that was happening to him, he didn’t loose his intelligence. Even in
disobedience he realized he was in a special place and he wanted to stay there. God had to drive both
he and Eve from the garden. (Gen 3:24)
Adam left God with no choice. God must be true to His word. Adam was told in Genesis 2:17, "but of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely
die." How do you interpret that? God was, and is, plainly spoken. “. . . you shall surely die.” There is no
interpretation, they had to die, that is, they had to be separated from God and ultimately, from life. This
dying, or separating, was to take place in God’s own time, not Adam’s.
Have you ever wondered why God did not destroy Adam, Eve, or the Garden? It seems to me He could
have saved Himself a lot of trouble if He had just wiped the plate clean and started over. The remainder
of the Scripture from Genesis 4:1 through Revelation 22:20 is the story of God providing the means for
His eternal creation – man – to return to Him in harmony. Think about it. The garden planted eastward in
Eden is still there with the tree of life being guarded by a cherubim with “. .a flaming sword which turned
every way. . .” This paradise and its tree of life are in safekeeping. They are in reserve for those who will
be entitled to them after an intervening period of trial and victory. Although annihilation was called for, and
justified, it was not, and is not, the way of God.
True harmony is more than merely the absence of conflict. Harmony is the created (us) in one accord
with the Creator (God). In those few moments when I held the butterfly in my hand and admired not only
the creature but also the Creator who sent it, I was more in harmony with God and with myself than I had
ever been before.
God gave us the example to follow when He forgave us. We forgive to restore a relationship to a state of
harmony. When we are at peace with God, with ourselves, and with our brothers, the fruits of God’s spirit
are visible in our lives. When there are no battles to fight and no bad guys to deal with we can
concentrate on our own living for the glory of the Lord. The reason harmony is not a very big issue in our
lives is simply because we do not work at it. Perhaps we need to consider the butterfly.

© Carl H. Lenz, 2007

DAYDREAMING