**ITEM DOES NOT COME FRAMED**
Since becoming a mother a few months ago, I have been thinking a lot about the world’s first mother, Eve.
I’ve been putting myself in her shoes and I can easily see the qualities she had to have in order to make one of the biggest decisions in the history of mankind. I see her courage, faith, accountability, strength, intuition, intelligence, ambition, and meekness.
However, even though I can see the incredible qualities she had to have in order to make this decision, I can also imagine the turmoil she must’ve experienced in making it. In fact, the simple question that God asked Eve keeps coming to my mind, “What is this that thou hast done?”
What would my own reaction have been if faced with this decision? How would I have felt if God had asked me, “What is this that thou hast done?” And put simply…I would have cried.
Maybe it’s because I never had a strong relationship with a father figure to make proud or consequently disappoint. Or perhaps after feeling confident in this decision and then being asked “What have you done?” would’ve filled me with overwhelming self-doubt.
Eve may be much stronger than me, but I imagine her choice was still hard and scary even though she knew it was the right thing to do. I imagine her fearing the unimaginable consequences that would come. I imagine her feeling nervous to tell Adam what she had done and fearing he wouldn’t understand. I imagine her being overwhelmed and anxious to know what having “your eyes be opened” would even include.
I wanted to paint Eve as I imagine her amidst making one of the biggest decisions in history. I picture her kneeling down and praying for understanding and guidance. I imagine her weeping out of fear, anxiety, and self-doubt. She knew that partaking of the fruit would lead to opposition in all things, which would also be the very lifeblood of her future growth and that of all of humanity.
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"Empathy for Eve" is an original Shop Smiddy Illustration by Taylor Child based on my own interpretation of Genesis Chapter 3 in the Old Testament of the King James Bible.
I was also really inspired by two different articles “Personalized, Purposeful, and Sometimes Ironically Painful Trials” by Mindy Selu in the February 2020 YA Weekly magazine and “The Choice That Began Mortality” by Elder Jess L. Christensen in the January 2002 Ensign.
I really loved what Selu said, “Just as “there is no other way … whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ” (Alma 38:9), just as there was no other way for Adam and Eve to progress but to partake of the fruit and to pass through all the challenges of mortality, just as there was no other way for the Savior to redeem us but to suffer and die, there is also no other way that we can become like Him and qualify for eternal life except to experience our own personalized trials.
When we find ourselves asking, “Is there no other way?” we can remember the counsel from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: “Remember the Savior’s own anguished example: if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead.”
And I loved the way Elder Christensen started his article by recounting the strength of his wife while giving birth to their children. He said, “I am amazed at the great love and courage my wonderful companion has shown during the birth of our children. I am in awe that the pain and sickness accompanying their birth was soon forgotten, making way for the joy and happiness of having a baby in our home. I have wondered how much Adam and Eve knew about such things as they made the choice to partake of the forbidden fruit.”
My heart goes out to Eve. And I think a lot of us find ourselves feeling stuck in her position fearing our future and doubting our choices. I pray for Eve’s faith and strength.
Prints come carefully packaged and are available in these sizes:
- 5x7 (inches)
- 8x10 (inches)
- 11x14 (inches)
- 16x20 (inches)
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Prints are printed on high-quality watercolor paper and packaged carefully.
