Love at First Sight
Let’s say somebody asks you, do you believe in love at first sight?
And by love, I mean romantic love in this particular case. You know. The icky sweet romantic love in which you just know that this person is “the one.”
The one that makes you start spouting poetry at first sight.
The sort of romantic love that completely and forever changes your life forever.
I know a lot of us like to scoff at that sort of love, because it seems a little bit unrealistic, but, for the last day of February, I would like to feature an artwork that beautifully illustrates this sort of romantic love:
This picture was actually made by William Blake for John Milton’s book, Paradise Lost. You can get Paradise Lost, complete with William Blake’s illustrations, over here on Amazon, if you’d like. (That’s an affiliate link, just in case you’re wondering, which means I get a little bit from it if you buy the book!)
So, what is this picture illustrating?
The moment in which Adam beholds Eve for the very first time.
I admit, the depiction of God is pretty odd, but what gets me is the look on Adam and Eve’s faces. For just a moment, the only thing that exists is each other. Everything else is just background. Sure, God is leading them both by the hand to meet with each other, but they seem lost in the moment of their eyes.
Love at first sight!
Or, as Adam said much more poetically:
NABRE
Genesis 2
23the man said:“This one, at last, is bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;This one shall be called ‘woman,’for out of man this one has been taken.”
This is not to say that their lives together will be easy. Far from it! They will be deceived by Satan together. They will eat the forbidden fruit together. They will be kicked out of Paradise together.
Furthermore, their choice of disobeying God in this one instance will magnify itself in their future generations when their direct descendents choose to defy God in even greater ways. They will see this firsthand when their firstborn son, Cain, kills their second son, Abel.
Yet, for this one beautiful moment, they look at each other, loving each other, loving that God could bring them to each other, and knowing with perfect certainty that they were indeed made for each other.
And in this moment, that love is all that matters.
