8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.REFLECTIONSWritten by Vincent ChanAmong the children’s books about unicorns and Gruffalos on our living room floor, there’s a children’s Bible story book called ‘The Garden, The Curtain and The Cross’. It has amazing pictures, but more importantly, it paints the story of the whole Bible in a simple way. It begins in the garden of Eden in Genesis and ends with a picture of the Heavenly city in the book of Revelation.I’ve never thought much about what the garden of Eden looked like, but what stands out in today’s reading is the lushness of the whole scene, with flowing rivers and all kinds of beautiful trees with delicious fruit.But the most important thing about the garden was not its lushness, but the fact that it was where God dwelt with people. As the Bible storybook I mentioned says, “People could see God, and speak to God, and just enjoy being with God”. This is a wonderful picture not just of botanical life, but of a rich and satisfying life in relationship with God.People wonder where the garden of Eden was. But we actually know how to find it: Revelation paints a picture of the much greater, future Eden in the new creation. And the way we enter that greater Eden is simply by trusting in Jesus alone. He is the one who restores our relationship with God. Because of the cross, we can one day dwell with God forever (Rev. 21:3).To finish, here are a few lines from the children’s book that talk about Jesus’ wonderful invitation to us.Jesus tells us: “God says it is wonderful to live with him. Because of your sin, you can’t come in. But I died on the cross to take your sin, so all my friends can now come in.”We can live with God for ever! There will be nothing bad and no one sad. We will see God and speak to God and just enjoy being with God, just as he planned. It will be wonderful to live with him. And it’s all because of Jesus.QUESTIONWhat do you think will be the best thing about living with God in heaven?ABOUT THE AUTHORVincent is an Assistant Minister with our Fairfield congregations.