© 1992 Larry Watkins
© 1992 Judy Mace
by Larry Watkins
By the time of the default 38,000 years ago, Adam and Eve had sixty-three children with 1647 pure line descendants extending over four generations. On one fateful day all of their children under twenty years of age became wards of the Most Highs to be transported to Edentia; those twenty years or older were allowed to choose to go or to remain on Earth. One third elected to stay. Here is a story of that time of choice.
“My heavenly Father, I come to you in this early morning calm in consternation and in turmoil. Mother has told me this must be my time for decision. Calm my soul, hear my prayer, and guide me, Father. I am confused and will speak openly of what is in my heart. May your will for me be done.
“I know that Mother and Father have made mistakes and have not fulfilled the tasks they were chosen to do here; for those reasons we must leave our beautiful garden home and live in the uncivilized lands beyond. You know of my love for them, for I have prayed to you often of this as well as asking you to forgive them. I believe their mistakes were made in lovel—you, my heavenly Father, know their hearts for certain and will be merciful.
“Today the results of their mistakes require this most difficult decision, as mother has given it to me: Do I choose to journey to a strange, wonderful new place for a strange and new life that has been prepared for my brothers and sisters and me, the beautiful planet where Mother and Father lived before coming to Earth, or will I choose to remain here with them, for they are not permitted to return?
“How do I choose, Father? The new world is glorious, I am told; my life there will be delightful and productive and fulfilling. Yet, to go there I leave this land of my birth that I already love so dearly. Life here is certain to be more difficult than there, contain more pain and sorrow and finally to end in death.
“The light of the new day spreads up across the sky as I sit here, the stars fading from view. I hear there will not be stars such as these in the night sky of this new home; it is a world unlike this one. This tree I sit under has long been a special friend to me—a place to play as a child and where I come now for the last time. The colors in the sky reflecting in the dew are becoming glorious, the birds are singing praise and my heart is breaking. The sounds and smells, the touch of this land, are a part of me; the plants and animals are my friends. The winds that blow, the seasons that change; none of this will be the same. Though I look forward to change and challenge, growth and new experience, I fear this choice.
“Calm my fears, Father, be with me, help me make my decision with open heart, uncluttered and tranquil mind. My will aside that thy will may abide…
“The sun is now full, the new day is here. I feel at peace and I can feel that you are with me just as I can feel the warmth in the sunlight. I know you are with me always, wherever I go. You are with me here as you will be with me on the new world.
“Father, your everlasting presence has calmed my fears, cleared my mind; I have decided. With the remembrance that you are with me always, not where I live but how I live is what is of real importance.
“Though I will dearly miss those brothers and sisters who leave, my love for Earth and for my parents is too strong to push aside for the promised better world. Be with my brothers and sisters as they, too, make their choices; help us bear the grief at parting. Be with Mother and Father during this testing time.
“Thank you for hearing my prayer, for being with me, and for this new day. My life is yours as it has always been. Amen.”
The six pieces of art on this spread are all part of a series by Judy Mace about Adam and Eve. There are 18 in total, and they will be published in three issues of The Journal.