Soul Kitchen

I just got back from four days of camping with my husband. No relatives, kids or dogs. It was wonderful! We did whatever we felt like doing. Ate when we wanted to eat. Ate what we wanted to eat. Had no showers, wore no makeup. Read books, took naps, stared at the fire, gazed at the stars. Went to bed early, slept til we were done, talked when we felt like it, didn't when we didn't. Went for walks, ate ice cream, sat in the sun, swam in the lake, prayed together, laughed at our own stupid jokes, peed in the woods. We loved every minute, enjoying God, creation and each other.

Then we got home. Back to work, big meals, and bras. Back to bills, dogs and dirt. (How is it that dirt is acceptable flooring in your kitchen only when you live in a tent?) I was looking forward to being home as we were enjoying the drive back, but by the time I went to bed, I was exhausted and ready for another break. I don't really have a point to all of this. I just want to go back to the woods.

(I got to this point in my writing last night, then went to bed.)

Hmm. Back to the woods. As I think about it, isn't that what Adam and Eve got to do in the garden - enjoy God, creation and each other? I think there is a place in the human heart that yearns for the way it was supposed to be, and all the holidays we take to attempt to get there don't work, because we always have to come back.

Yet Jesus makes it possible to "go back to the woods". Not only to have the glorious freedoms of heaven to look forward to, but he has given us a way to experience relationship with God and each other like it was in the beginning, as it was intended. It wasn't really the lack of kids, dogs and bras that made our camping trip great. (Although I have to say that I didn't miss the dogs or the bras.) It is the fact that Jesus has made it possible to enjoy God, his beautiful creation and each other now, which is what we did, and continue to do, even amidst the work and the meals and the bills.

Knowing Jesus gets us back to the woods, back to the garden, back to true life. Eternal life, life as it was meant to be, begins today.

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. - Jesus (John 17:3)

The thief comes only to steal, and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. - Jesus (John 10:10)