Footprints

I know in a prior FeMail or two, I’ve told you about my grandparents’ house and how it was in the country. Maybe it wasn’t exactly in the country. I guess now I’d call it the suburbs, because there was a subdivision. It just wasn’t in Tuscaloosa proper. And there were snakes. There was also a large lot of land on which the house was built. To the right of the house there was an IMMENSE garden, five-year-old child’s eyes or no. My grandfather often took me on walks around the property.

What I remember most about these walks is the fruit trees. He had so many different kinds of fruit trees planted. Over to the left of the house, on the hill, there was a plum tree. My cousin and I once fed those plums to a baby bird we rescued from the evil clutches of the next door neighbor’s German Shepherd. (We also subsequently made several phone calls to a bird hotline, which is another story.) Almost behind the house on the left, there was a fig tree which provided the most excellent shade. On the right side of the house, there were a couple of peach trees – I think they were peach and not apple, but maybe they were pear – and several blueberry bushes. In the backyard, muscadines grew along the fence, while the scuppernongs grew in an arbor.

In Genesis, we read of Adam and Eve and their nightly walk with God. We also read a couple of chapters later how their sin took away that privilege. When I think about the Garden of Eden, that is what I think of the most – their being able to walk with God. We also know that Enoch walked with God (Genesis 5:22-24). Genesis 6:9 tells us that Noah also walked with God.

Sometimes the Christian life is referred to as “the Christian walk.” I don’t think we’re meant to walk alone. Surely, we have fellow Christians with us on that journey. More importantly, we have God with us on that walk. Just as those walks when I was little was less about the fruit trees and more about with whom I walked, so is the Christian walk. You and I don’t get to experience the Garden of Eden. Instead we have the Bible to read and the avenue of prayer to speak to God. How is your Bible study and prayer life? Is it done with diligence so that it enhances your Christian walk?