Today the air is cool.

There is a steady breeze flowing over the earth, rustling the leaves and waking the senses. Much like the breath that filled Adam and woke him to life.

This morning, as I sit on my front porch and breathe the fresh air and feel the cool breeze, I cannot put what I feel into words. All I can say is that life is meant to be lived.

—

As I think back to that old story, that it seems like we’ve all heard so much of, I remember what God did when he breathed that life into Adam.

“A mist was going up from the land and watering the whole face of the ground.” You can almost smell it. The scent of moisture, like when it is about to rain. You can almost feel it. The moist ground. The dirt that you could sink your feet into. Not the Texas ground that is littered with sharp goat heads—but the soft, moist dirt that refreshes the skin, that you feel between your toes.

“God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” God planted the garden after he made Adam. God did not make Adam for the garden (to work it and till it). He made the garden for Adam (to please him and delight him). The garden was the first gift from God. It was a gift God made for Adam. Why? Because he loved Adam. Because God desires to give good things (Luke 12:32).

“Out of the ground God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” That which God created was not arbitrary. He planted for a purpose. He did not plant just any tree, but trees that were pleasant to the sight. He did not grow any fruit, but that which was good for food. Why? Because the garden was a gift. He made it beautiful because he was giving it away. He made it beautiful because he makes all things beautiful.

—

So, I come back to what I said. Life is meant to be lived. Why? Because it is a gift. Gifts are meant to be used, not thought about. If the gift is a tool, then build! If the gift is a book, then read! If the gift is a song, then listen! And if the gift is life, then live!

Use every one of your senses today: Listen to rustling leaves. Breathe fresh air. Feel soft grass. See beautiful flowers. Taste delicious flavors. God has given these as gifts.

Grass is meant to be felt beneath your feet.
Air was meant to be breathed in deeply.
Wine was meant to gladden the heart.
Flowers were meant to be smelled.
Life was meant to be lived.

Take off your shoes. Dig your feet into the ground. Listen to the voices and stories around you. Look deeply into the eyes of your lover. Confess your love. Profess your joy.

“May you see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
(Isaiah 41:20)