NAKED IN DELIGHT: AN EXCERPT
What follows is a brief excerpt from chapter two in Unlost: Being Found By The One We Are Looking For. The chapter explores the way things were in the beginning. Which, of course, are the way things should be, and by God's good grace one day will be ... enjoy.
In 2003, in the middle of the night when my wife was nine months pregnant, she woke me up and said, “My water broke.” Like a good, confident, prepared husband, I groggily mumbled, “Are you sure?” We grabbed our things and drove to the hospital. My wife labored through the night, and shortly after sunlight broke through the window in the delivery room, our first child was born, a son.
It was overwhelming, and when I threw my hands up and yelled, “It’s a baby!” the medical staff looked at me curiously, as if to ask if I expected something else. My wife handed our son to me, this new life, so small, fragile and beautiful. As I took him in my arms, tears filled my eyes, and I laughed with joy and love. I knew my heart and soul would never be the same, and for that I was grateful.
We have had two daughters since my son’s birth, and with each one, I stood amazed at the miracle, knowing I’d just met two of the most important people in my life for the first time. In seconds they had me wrapped around their tiny, little fingers. My heart was, and still is, mush.
Experiencing the birth of my children makes me wonder what God must have felt when he heard the first sounds of breathing and saw the first movements of life. I like to think he stood back smiling and laughing, with tears of joy streaming down his face.
Not only were the man and the woman made in his image, but he loved them from the first breath he gave them. He simply couldn’t feel any other way.
This God was like a loving parent with their kids. He was like a parent coming home who is greeted by their kiddos jumping into their arms as they walk through the door. No fear or guilt or shame—only love and freedom and joy. The man and the woman met God and experienced him for who he is: love. Hardwired into their DNA as image bearers is the likeness of a loving, creative God.
It is no wonder that the impulse for love coursed through their veins from the moment God breathed into them the breath of life. Embedded in the first man and the first woman was the imprint of a loving God. They did not have to wonder why the other acted so nice or what the person really wanted. They loved without expecting or wanting something back, and they received love without thinking they had earned it.
They were free to be exactly who they were. They understood their truest and deepest identity as humans and were able to live in it unapologetically. God was not associated with fear or feelings of guilt, because they had nothing to hide. Everything was out in the open. Everywhere they turned, love found them, and in their freedom, they could receive it.
Together, they lived in a garden called Eden. Eden means “delight” or “pleasure.” Eden was not just a dot on the map. If you visited, you would not have seen a sign saying, “Welcome to Eden. Population 2.”
Yet while you were there, you might have found yourself saying, “This is Eden,” in the same way you might say, “This is paradise,” while watching a sunset on the shores of Maui. Eden was not only a geographical location; it was also a way of describing the world and the way of life that existed in it.