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ContentsPART 1

The tension: both exist (Eden Lostand Eden Regained)

PART 2

The problem: we have forgottenour native tongue

PART 3

The hope: learning to read thesigns

Acknowledgments

About the author

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Both Exist:Eden Lost and Eden Regained

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*The tension

Attending a conference in Thailand,I had a room on the 17th flooroverlooking the bustling city ofChiang Mai. When I looked out mywindow this is what I saw …

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One picture,yet three realities.

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Reality one: Poolside

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The pool is on the fourth floor ofthe hotel and when you sit poolside, you are unaware of the canal.

In many ways, this pool is like Edenwas.

With room to paly, hang out or talk,it is fresh, attractive and conduciveto relationships. However, there isalso space for solitude allowing forcontemplation, reading, andrecharging.

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But then we have …

Now, I get that the metaphor is not perfectbecause Eden didn’t involve an artificially,recreated piece of nature in the middle ofa city.

No, Eden was natural. It wasn’t forced, itwas truly paradise and I agree that thispool is not paradise.

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Reality two: The rancid canal

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It is dirty and smelly. And as much asthe pool can be seen as a reflectionof what Eden was, this canal reflectsso painfully, Eden lost. And lost on sovery many levels.

The literal trashed tossed in it is buta small taste of how sin has robbedcreation aesthetically. Its productivityhas been stolen as it has ceased toflow with water or life. People pickup their pace as they walk by becauseit reeks of what has been lost. Sadly,that is not a metaphor. This dearcanal truly smells.

From the street you have no idea thatif you look up four floors to the left,there is such a lovely place so close.

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However,there is also …

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This view challenges us to hold both realities intension.

It is true that Eden has been lost and that muchof life does stink, is filled with garbage, andreflects brokenness. Life contains pain, beautyhas been lost, and distance does exist inrelationships. But it is also true that theKingdom of God is now as Eden Regained breaksinto Eden Lost.

God did not leave us in the hopeless state ofEden Lost. As he sent them out of the garden hecomforted them that he had a plan. And thatplan has unfolded and is unfolding, providingglimpses and pockets of Eden Regained.

Eden Regained is fragrant, beautiful, andreflects God’s glory in ways that restore hopeand bring a cheer of joy from a grateful heart.

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Reality three: The bird’s eye view

It is tempting to stay in vacationmode and want to live by thepool, denying the canal. Or,become so frustrated anddisillusioned with the canals oflife that all you see is floatingrubbish without an ounce ofhope in sight.

But as believers we arechallenged to have new eyes andto accept the already/not-yet-ness of life. Eden is returning,yes! Yet, she has not fullyreturned.

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We must hold both as true.

We have forgottenour native tongue

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*The problem

This is a sign I stare at every time I amon the elliptical machine at the gym.

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You in the fitness. It doesn’t fail to bring a smile.Me, in the fitness.

But more than that, it points to how trickylanguage can be. How nuanced. How loaded.Something so right in one language can sound sovery wrong in another.

I stare at it and think of what my heart language,my native tongue, should have been: LOVE, FAITH,HOPE, CONTENTMENT.

But instead I learned to speak the foreignlanguage of hatred, disbelief, despair, anddiscontent.

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We were meant for paradise. For harmony.For love. But we doubted, and that doubtled to disobedience which led to death andbrokenness. And that which should havebeen my native tongue became a foreignone.

I so often miss that brokenness wasnever meant to come so naturally to me,and certainly not from me. It wasn’tmeant to come so easily to those aroundme either. But it does. We must learn tospeak how we should have been speakingall along.

A major lie, sown far and wide, is that wecan’t speak our true tongue fluently, sowhy try.

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But here’s the truthAs with any language, You can learn. Ican learn. We can learn. Our vocabularycan be added to. The grammar of lovecan be studied and played with. Newways of looking at a concept can becultivated.

I am growing in my ability to speak howthe perfected me will speak one day. Butlike that cloudy mirror mentioned to theCorinthians, too often I have a thicktongue. What I mean to say comes out asthe spiritual version of, “You in thefitness.”

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“Forgiveness enormous more thanpointing.”

“Patience more better than shove.”

“God is so colleague better.”

You in the fitness. You in the broken Eden. Readthis sign and be encouraged. You will not alwaysspeak so brokenly, so woundingly, so awkwardly.Begin to try now to speak how you will speak then.Learn to speak your true native language, thelanguage of Eden.

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Learning to read the signs

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*The hope

Leaving Eden did not leave us without hope.In Adam and Eve’s preparation to leave, theLord took their inadequate, quicklyconstructed leaf coverings and made morelasting provisions. Provision that came with acost, yet would provide true covering. Agesture that spoke hope and pointed torestoration.

I have lived for many years in China andthere are signs galore that are not, shall wesay, Edenesque.

I am ever so slowly retraining my reactionfrom being one of merely poking fun orgroaning to one of 'Chuckle and'. Chuckle andbe reminded of my protruding plank. Not onlyare some of the signs I see lacking in Edentones, the very words that come from me failto reflect the Garden we were meant to livein. We, who speak so stumblingly thelanguage of Eden, are offered hope in theexpected and unexpected.

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These signs have become unexpectedwhispers of how we sound, how Isound. It is two-fold as we hear howoff we sound, knowing that there ISa better way. In them I see howpervasive the lostness is; there is nonook or cranny not tainted.

Examples are helpful. The followingillustrates the spiritual practice ofreading signs through the lens ofEden and the hope they offer.

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Eden could have used this sign:

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Choosing something thatwhispers ‘I’m not from

Eden.’

A gentle, but clear boundary was given. You may eat from anytree, but one. The very next scene, I repeat, the very nextscene, they are hanging out near the one tree they weren’t toeat from. Why are they standing there when they have a wholegarden to enjoy?

Why do I stay too close to the things I shouldn’t and not closeenough to that which is good for me?

When I’m hungry (or bored or lonely), I open the refrigeratordoor, looking for food. There are lots of healthy, good-for-mechoices, but I keep looking for something else.

Or, we wander onto the internet, going deeper into a rabbithole. Or send a quick text to a friend when hurt, wanting to bejustified in my use of anger as a weapon.

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The language of Eden is one of hope. One ofcommunion, not blaming. We speak Eden lost: Thewoman made me. The serpent made me. The boredommade me. The lack of a husband made me. The lack ofinfluence at work made me. The pain made me.

Blaming isn’t supposed to flow so freely. Likebackground noise, we forget it was our secondlanguage because we’ve taken to it like a fish takes towater.

The sign reminds you to listen to your thoughts, yourwords, your responses. Where you hear blame comingfrom you, remember that we were sent from the gardento spare us living this way forever. And the hope thatwas offered, us, the people of Eden. We can begin tospeak now how we will speak when we return.

Blamelessly.

It seems so foreign, doesn’t it? And it will stay that waywithout practice.

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But fall they did. Like Jill’s quick tumbleafter Jack, we’ve been falling ever since.

Yet it is not just our words thathave fallen prey.

Relationships, escape, and moneyhave been corrupted as well.

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This life of faith is like learning to dance. Atmy gym I attend several dance classes:Zumba, folk dance and one that is translatedas “Jazz” but I call “Cool-boy-pop-dance.”The teachers are fluid and good with theirbodies. They make it look easy and I believe Ican follow their moves. I believe them until Ilook in the mirror and wonder how somethingso graceful and lovely can be translated intosomething so awkward.

Often I laugh. I’m not there to become aprofessional dancer but to get my heart rateup. So what if I look like a bull in a chinashop? It’s all good fun.

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Eden was lost, true. That we cannot deny ormiss. But we are not abandoned in this state.That I cannot deny, but sadly, often miss.

This life of faith is like learning todance. Our native tongue was to bethat of Eden, but it was swapped forthe language of Eden lost. I see Jesus’example and the way he deals withpeople, so graceful and lovingly and Ibelieve I can follow his model.

I believe until I look in themirror and see and hear my

awkwardness.

This sign is on the inside of the doorof a hotel room in which I stay; I seeit every time I visit and it makes mesad such a sign is necessary.

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It reeks of Eden lost. It’s easy to look at this sign andthink, no problem. I don’t do those things.

Really?

Look again.

Relationships. Escape. Money.

Well, when it’s translated like that, it hits so closeto home I’m nearly knocked out. In Eden, we weresupposed to relate to God and others in deep, richways that fostered connection. How often have Iprostituted a relationship and used someone for myown gain?

Eden was to be a land of pleasure and joy! How oftenhave I used food, anger, the internet, sports, or readingin ways that resembled abusing a drug?

Eden didn’t have money, but I think there are ways touse money that can hint at what might have been inEden. And ways to use it that are as off the mark assome of my Zumba moves. We talk of calculated risk,and to be sure, that exists (and would have in Eden,too). We don’t speak often enough of the great liecredit cards want us to believe. Call it what you may,it’s closer to gambling than we think, laced with emptypromises.

When I stop watching Amy-in-the-mirror and insteadlisten to the music, keeping my eyes on the teacher, mymoves may still be awkward. True.

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But maybe, just maybe,I’m dancing more like I will in Eden

Regained. A few more fluid movementsin the right direction

Paul and Peter spoke of maturing when theyreferenced spiritual milk coming beforespiritual food. Maturity results from processand process is acceptable, milk is good;however, living off of milk will eventuallylead to a lack of development.

Chinglish uses Chinese grammar with Englishwords. Chinglish signs were the door thatopened my ears to hear, really hear, myselfsquawk in faith talk. And it is tempting, OHSO VERY, very tempting to stay near this doorand wait for more instruction and challengeto come my way, your way, our way. Thinkingthat it’s only Chinglish that will be used topoint to Eden Regained.

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Why do I settle for spiritualmilk, fooling myself I can

live on it?

The language of Eden is not constrained toChinglish. It is woven into every tongue, andtribe, and nation. It abounds.

For those who have eyes to see, let them see.For those who have ears to hear, let them hear.For those who have signs, let them read throughthe lens that points to Eden being regained.

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Let’s try a few …

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A restaurant in New York City.

Chat. Words we use. People we talk to.Topics we talk about. The tone comingfrom us. Reactions to things said. Greatpotential for Eden, Eden, Eden!

Chew. Do I appreciate the food before me?The process it took to get here and thenumber of hands it passed through? Am Ieven aware of what I am eating? Do Ireally taste it? Savor and enjoy? Am Ipresent in what I’m doing? Or more like ananimal? Eden, Eden, Eden?

AND. Do I remember that I am fearfullyand wonderfully made? That I can chatAND chew? That so much can occur in onesimple meal. Eden lost speaks of NO, ofcan’t, and limit. Eden regained of AND,cant, and abundance.

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This sign can be found near Hug Point in Oregon(USA). No, I did not make up the name, for thecynics reading this. (and how “Eden Lost” of you …see what I mean about this way of talking andthinking existing all around?)

SafetyHazardous

Sneaker wavesIsolation

Deep water

Strong currentsOverhanging cliffs

Falling rocksHigh waves

Jetties

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Where to start?This sign has a lifetime of lessons.

It’s tempting to stop right here and end with a signthat holds many life lessons.

But I fear those kind of signs lull us into thinkingthat it’s only in the lists, in the rules, in thecomplex that Eden speaks.

Lostness has permeated much, so much. We knowthis. We swim in it, making it easy to miss thehope, the nudges in life that are sprinkled in asmany places.

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Seen somewhere in Scotland

Castle entrance.

Beauty in simplicity.

We were once ushered out of a garden toprotect us from being stuck there. From beingtrapped in Eden Lost. From reeking of blame,brokenness, misusing money, misusing people,misusing resources. And so you shall be,whispered the serpent.

Castle entrance. Castles are in kingdoms. Andthe way out of that garden is through the castleentrance to the Kingdom of God.

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The view from the 17th floor gave birth to theexpression “The Language of Eden. I wonder attimes if I had stayed on a lower floor, would I beso taken with Eden? With lostness and hope andregaining. Really it’s a moot point, I was on the17th floor and I looked at the pool and the canalday after day, until I couldn’t gloss over howthis one scene mirrors my reality. Two truths atonce. Confusing, frustrating, refreshing, and lifegiving … often all mixed together.

When you finish this book (and the end is near),it’s really only a beginning. It will be your turnto be taken with Eden. Signs abound. Trafficsigns, advertisements, signs that provideinformation or instructions. Every one offering achance to practice the language of Eden.

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Just start looking

Signs surround to remind us.

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And then come back to share atwww.messymiddle.com/more-signs-of-eden-regained/

Share this book

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You are welcome to share this book withanyone and everyone.

I only ask that you do not sell or change it inany way.

To see more signs and to offer feedback, visitthe More Signs of Eden Regained page at TheMessy Middle/Signs of Eden Regained.

Acknowledgments

Amy SullivanAndy CheelyEmily WyliePatti FilakJoleneDykstraErika DykJoDee MartinAmy Hoppock

Lizzie TalcottStephany MoserSharee HerbertShelly PageErin O’NeillKatherineJohnsonAmy FlammangLaura Young

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Young’s real-life,everyday encounters bothchallenge and inspire you toreturn to your intendedheart’s cry for God. She livesin Beijing, China.

Read more atmessymiddle.com/about.

Connect with her:Email:messymiddle@gmail.comBlog: messymiddle.comTwitter: amyinbj

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You can speak how youwere meant to speak

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