What Eve Tells Me

It's a bit scary as a woman to walk up to Eve in Genesis and stare her in the eyes and know..."I would have eaten it too."
She is the pinnacle of Creation, the completion of the Image-bearers, and Adam's ezer kenegdo. No wonder Eve was the target in this beginning story. She still is...in me.
She tells me I am supposed to be beautiful. What does that mean? When it comes to my beauty, I have a hard time knowing exactly what that is and what to do with it once I found it...so, you may find me ignoring beauty to the point of believing that it doesn't exist in me. Thwap! Arrow number one.
She tells me I was designed to be glorious. Eh? No, no. I was designed to do glorious things, right? To focus on being instead of doing? Thwap! Arrow number two.
Michaelangelo's statue of David, Renoirs painting of the people in the park, Alma Ta Daema's sleeping women, Degas' ballerina's...these are crowns of art to me. Indiana's farmland at summer's end, the red cliffs of the Northeast coastline, the clearest mountain streams..these are nature's beauty to me. It makes me catch my breath to read the detail and imagine the pure, untainted beauty of creation when it was spoken...and then, I am filled with humility and mute honor as Eve becomes the final stroke...formed not spoken was she. A combination of joy and terror grip me as I realize God chose mankind to bear His image...and He chose me to be the crown of that creation...not an "oh yeah" or "by the way" of creation...but the final "there" that makes it all right. Perfect. But, I'm anything but perfect...so, how does this work? I am staggered. Thwap! Arrow number three.
She tells me she has a role to play, a destiny of her own, a glory to show forth that only she can show. So do I. I am not just a frame around the rest of creation, a shining star at the top of the tree. I am more than the ornament or the vase for the roses...there is a crown to womanhood. There is a glory placed on her...on me, like a golden-threaded robe. I may have eaten her fruit, but I also wear her crown. Dink! Shield number one.