Mother Eve, A Forgotten Heroine

Someone said, ‘Teach a boy and you educate a man. Teach a girl, and you educate a nation.’ No one’s life exemplified this more than that of Mother Eve, whose name means ‘the mother of all living.’

Some would say that the human race, with all its less admirable traits, is all Eve’s fault. But we are adults, and we can’t blame our parents forever. We as parents have not been perfect, either.

Created by God Himself, Eve must have been a special, lovable, and intelligent woman. God would not start the human family with a defective mother. He knew what He was doing. Only after Eve was created did He declare His creative work complete. But the progression of His children had only just begun. Eve had a choice to make, and she did the best she could with the knowledge she had at the time. And Adam joined her. As a result, the great human epic began, with Adam and Eve as the first heroes in history.

As part of Adam and Eve’s training, their loving Father gave them instructions about their Garden home. He explained that to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil would bring irreversible consequences. Childlike innocence does not imply lack of intelligence. Children sometimes need to experience something before they can comprehend its full meaning. Knowing that as free agents his children would make mistakes, God’s merciful plan did factor in the element of human error. That’s why He provided a Redeemer.

Eve, having been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth, no doubt knew that somehow this would come to be. She had been taught of her Father’s love and desire for her happiness. But at that point in her life, she did not understand how the Father’s plan of happiness would be implemented. Being teachable, and perhaps a little too trusting of Satan’s lies, she made what to her seemed a plausible choice to help her gain more knowledge.

After her eyes were opened and she learned the magnitude of the choice she had made, she accepted responsibility for her actions. Her example would be the first lesson in a very long life of teaching and serving her children. She may have been the first mother, but she was also the first repentant sinner. She taught her children, not only that they could do something about their mistakes, but also to go forward in faith, and trust the Lord to teach them how to progress.

Eve did not know how her story would end. Yet she went on, not only to walk in faith when she did not know all the answers, but to raise children in the harsh realities of life outside of Eden. Because she endured with courage her role in the Fall, all mankind, through the divine atonement, may yet have joy.
~C.A.McClung


See also Quotes for Mom

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