When God created Adam and Eve, he gave them the earth as home.
Untouched yet by human hands, I could imagine Earth then for the Paradise that it was:
fresh, clean, virginal, pristine in her beauty.
Ever since, we have been searching for that Paradise Lost.
We long for the ease and comfort of what used to be our home.
But We have chosen what we have chosen and that choice has meant that
“by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;
for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
In our search for that Paradise Lost we often create false ones, like our comfort zones.
It is so easy for one to become smug and withdraw into one’s comfort zone.
One creates his comfort zone by going after
what one believes to be ‘success’ or ‘happiness’.
In today’s materialistic world, success is often defined
by what we make, by what we earn.
Real success and happiness should be defined in terms of what we do for others,
by how we make them happy,
how we make a difference in their lives,
how we come to their aid when they need it.
Staying in my comfort zone is remaining in the shallows.
Helping and being a man for others is putting out into the deep waters
and taking the risk of stormy weather, of getting hurt, of getting lost even.
But it is out there that the big catch is waiting.
Too many are enticed these days by the Gospel of Prosperity.
But today, we are reminded by discipleship means the cross.
The Paradise we lost can be regained only through the cross.
