"And then I began to wonder about Eve, what the scene might have looked like when she and Adam first met. Dante paints the meeting as being more realistic than I had imagined, writing that the slow-to-love Eve did not find Adam the least bit attractive, becoming enamoured, instead, with her own reflection in some water. It's true women are terribly enamoured with their own reflections. You can't blame them, though. If I were good-looking, I would certainly go around looking at myself all the time, too. And it is also true women are slow to love. I used to think it was because something was wrong with them, but, over time, I wondered whether they were more deliberate than men about important decisions...And in comparison I realized they were infinitely more intelligent about relational matters than men.
...I noticed Adam and Eve didn't meet right away....God knew Adam was lonely...but God did not create Eve directly after He stated Adam was lonely. This struck me as funny, because a lot of times when I think about life before the Fall, I don't think of people going around lonely. But that thought also comforted me because I realized loneliness in my own life doesn't mean I am a complete screw-up, but rather that God made me this way...here is Adam, the only perfect guy in the world, and he is going around wanting to be with somebody else...when God saw this, He did not create Eve right away. He did not give Adam what he needed immediately. He waited....
The thing is, when Adam finished naming the animals...God put him to sleep, took a rib out of his side, and fashioned a woman....I don't think I quite realized how beautiful this moment was...here was this guy who was intensely relational, needing other people, and in order to cause him to appreciate the gift of companionship, God has him hang out with chimps for a hundred years...God directed Adam's steps so that when He created Eve, Adam would have the utmost appreciation, respect, and gratitude.
I think it was smart of God because today, now that there are women all around and a guy can go on the Internet and see them naked anytime he wants, the whole species has been devalued...I thought how very beautiful it was that God made Adam work for so long because there is no way, after a hundred years of being alone...that you would take advantage of a woman once you met one. She would be the most precious creation in all the world, and you would probably wake up every morning and look at her and wonder at her beauty, or the gentle, silent way she sleeps...
...for the first time in his life, Adam was seeing a person who was like him, only more beautiful, and smarter in the ways of love and encouragement, and more deliberate in the ways of relationships. He must have thought to himself that she was perfect, and after a few days of just talking and getting to know each other, they must have fallen deeply in love....he must have gone on a long walk with God and thanked Him, and I'll bet that was a very beautiful conversation. I'll bet Adam felt loved by God, like he was somebody God was always trying to bless and surprise with amazing experiences, and I'll bet they talked together about how beautiful Eve was and how wonderful it was that the two of them could know her, and I would imagine that Eve felt safe, loved, not used or gawked at, but appreciated and admired."
I want this. I really believe that I can have romance like this, but only if I wait on God and His perfect timing and will. I know it won't be as perfect as theirs. But it can be just as beautiful.
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