I first met you in the garden. Dark, mysterious and full of pomp you made yourself known to me. Your acquaintance cost me dearly and I felted cursed as a result of meeting you. You had no feelings for me but only cared to finish the job you came to do.
Why did you come to our beautiful home in the garden anyway? Without saying a word you brought sadness, grief and heartache into our lives. You are a poser, a monster and villain and I care not to meet you again. You left a sting that never leaves; it is always present in the back of my mind just waiting for the right moment to ooze guilt and shame.
You have terrible manners and will never have a standing invitation to our home. You show up at the most unreasonable times and never at our request. Even though you have a cold, cold heart, you are like a hot dry wind that punishes the body leaving it thirsty, dry and parched.
Although, you do have a way of bringing our families together but tears are forever present. Even friends, long forgotten, seem to show up at our homes when you grace us with your presence. Seeing these old friends and family brings warmth and comfort to me in ways I don’t completely understand. You brought them, you told them to come, but how were they summoned? Now that will remain a mystery.
You have no feeling, you’re vain, callous and cold and I do not care to see you when you come to visit. My prayer is that you will stay away from my family, friends and away from my life entirely. I care not that you, on occasion, manage to bring relief to some who are sick. You have been called the ultimate healer, showing up at our bedside to take us home but I care not for your help or hands to touch me in any way.
I was wrong to believe, trust in the one who brought you to us. He was a deceiver from the start and all he ever wanted was to steal from all of us. He had feelings, even though misguided, but you are numb and without a soul; caring nothing for age, gender or position in life.
When I was young, you tormented me and I will never forgive you for that. For weeks all I could ever think about was when you would come to visit with me. I could neither sleep nor eat while the thought of your ultimate arrival hung in my thoughts like the Mona Lisa on a prominent wall in a gallery. The scar that you left on me that day, at such a young age, has never fully healed.
As I got older, we tended to see each other more often as you began to visit my family and friends more often. I began to actually enjoy your visits in a morose, macabre yet exciting kind of way. You reminded me of a sense of adventure that I once embraced in my youth. The thought of exploring distant places that I would never be able to see on my own was exhilarating and chilling at the same time.
In my youth all I saw in your heart was sadness and grief. The pain, destruction and separation you always brought with you lingered for a long time after your departure. I have found that time is the only ointment and salve that soothes the pain of your visits. The carnage you drag along with you never really disappears. I have never seen you intentionally bring light or comfort to any situation.
However, as I continue to age and begin to wear my silver crown, I realize that you are not the curse I once thought you were but instead you have become a blessing. I realize that the choice I made to disobey God has both separated all of us from His presence.
I am slowly beginning to see your purpose was a noble one. You have saved me from living forever in a body full of sin! Oh wretched man that I am. You were not my enemy but my relief, the cure to living outside the presence of my Creator.
When the Creator’s gave us His own Son, Jesus Christ, to shed His own blood and pay a price I could never pay, it was at that very moment that my fear of you left. When my Savior rose from the grave He rebuked and conquered you, showing all of us His power over you, it was at that very moment that I was not afraid of you any longer. Your sting disappeared at the cross. Thank you, Death, for your help, Sincerely Eve.
