The Garden of Eden – What I’m Reading

When God placed Adam in the garden, there was only one no. Adam and Eve could eat from any of the trees in the garden except for one. Our God is a God of grace, a God who gives to the point of overflow. This can be seen in how He created a garden where virtually every tree was a yes. Parents should remember this when their little ones become mobile and start life in their “garden.” Given the nature of things, there do need to be certain things that are off-limits for the kids for various reasons: toddlers shouldn’t be able to play with electric sockets, and they shouldn’t be allowed to kick the vase off the coffee table. Sometimes there even have to be points of testing for the point of testing. After all, God did place one tree in the garden that was off-limits. Even so, the attitude of parents should be one of grace, wanting to bestow, desiring to give. Unless their authority is respected, they cannot give, but authority can be established without having a tempting no every foot and a half. All this is another way of encouraging parents to toddler-proof the house with grace in mind. (My Life for Yours, p. 108)