fresh strawberries

Genesis 3:14-21

The Lent Guide found on MDC Asheville's website prompts reflection on God's promises among the curses in this text.  The greatest promise is in the form of a curse, only directed toward the serpent.  God promises, from the moment of the fall, redemption.  A man born of woman will crush the head of the serpent.  Revenge is sweet, but this is not revenge.  This is something much better: the difference between greenhouse-grown pesticide-treated watered-down strawberries, and berries you picked yourself from a local, organic farm.  This is a promise from God that, one day, there will be no serpent.  There will be no toil on the land, no pain in childbirth, no more curses or death.

In the meantime, by God's grace, there will be food grown from the earth (though it is bought with blood and sweat).  Children will be born (through great pain).  God will provide, even as He clothed Adam and Eve, He will provide for His people until the time of redemption.  Until He beckons us to come and eat.  Those who are thirsty, come to the waters.  Come, buy wine and milk.  Without money and without cost.