02.01.2010    Michael Fox CPCC, founder of m�agine!, is a professional coach and trainer, author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout the world. Michael is a Certified Practitioner of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.� Do you know someone who might benefit from our weekly email?   Echoes of the garden... For portions of three decades--nestled in the Bixby Knolls neighborhood of Long Beach, California--there reigned an elegant, fine dining establishment named "Welch's Restaurant." A visit to Welch's was a sensual delight--from its signature chilled and dressed salads and its fresh seafood to its opulent, art deco architecture. Guests walked past a fountain in the lobby, through a narrow lounge, and into a circular portal to enter the dining room--essentially, an interior garden: lush carpets richly patterned with fronds; generous palms and verdure; rich murals of flora and fauna; a gentle stream running 'neath the broad, angled windows of the dining room; one distinctive prep station that recalled a vast, ribbed Bauer bowl and a second, where  salads were prepared--an island in the midst of the dining room. Unlike most of its modern counterparts, Welch's was a place of gracious sophistication, a place for dresses and sportcoats, a place for reflective conversation. It was, to repeat, a richly-appointed garden space--with carpet, sans mosquitoes. All of which reminds me, oddly enough, of the ancient Tabernacle of Sinai and, later, Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. It's easy to get caught up in the obvious theological details of the tabernacle and temple and miss the broad, yet subtle, botanical theme of both structures. That's right, the botanical theme. It was the pomegranates that first attracted my curiosity. I've long been intrigued by the presence of pomegranates in scripture. (I personally would have given preeminence to the pink grapefruit.) Many scholars contend that the infamous "apple" of Eden was, in fact, a pomegranate. Pomegranates were plentiful in Canaan; the fruit was among the "seven species" for which the land of promise was praised (Deuteronomy 8:8; cf. Numbers 13:23). The "crown" of the pomegranate is said to have inspired the design of Solomon's own coronet. And Solomon compared his beloved's facial temples to the "halves of a pomegranate" (Song 4:3)--a line that, sadly in my experience, is no longer in vogue. Most intriguing, however, was the presence of pomegranates in ancient Israel's worship: the hem of the high priest's robe was adorned with "pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn...with gold bells between them" (Exodus 28:33); and, the capitals of the two columns that stood in front of Solomon's Temple were engraved with pomegranates (1 Kings 7:13-22). Solomon's Temple, like Welch's Restaurant, was in fact a virtual interior garden. More than just pomegranates, the temple featured elaborate engravings of gourds, flowers, and palms (1 Kings 6:18, 29, 32, 35). The floor, walls, and ceiling of the temple were overlaid with gold; we can only imagine, coupled with the engraved flora and fauna, that the flames of the candlestick flickering against the backdrop of gold and darkness would have given the priest a sense of being outdoors in a garden on a moonlit, starry night. But, there's one more piece... The temple reflected not just any garden, but Eden itself. The parallels are many and beyond the scope of this once brief post, but perhaps a handful of examples will engage your curiosity. One, as the temple was divided into two rooms (the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place), so had Eden encompassed two regions: "A river watering the garden flowed from Eden" (Genesis 2:10; cf. Revelation 22:1-2). Two, the Menorah, the candlestick of the Temple--with its trunk and its branches--reflected the Tree of Life that was in the midst of the Garden. Three, as the cherubim spread their wings atop the Ark of the Covenant, so had God placed the two cherubim at the entrance of the garden "to guard the way to the Tree of Life" (Genesis 3:24). Four, priests were commissioned to "serve" and to "guard" the temple (Numbers 3:7-8; 8:25-26; 18:5-6; 1 Chronicles 23:32; Ezekiel 44:14); curiously, these are the very Hebrew words God had used in his charge to Adam: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it" (Genesis 2:15). Mightn't it be a reasonable assumption that Adam functioned as a priest in the garden? For these reasons--and others equally compelling--Jewish scholars believe that the Garden of Eden was itself the first temple, a natural sanctuary, a place of union and communion between God and mankind. Consequently, the botanical theme of the temple and the tabernacle that preceded it was an "echo" of the first temple, the Garden of Eden. Today, God "does not live in temples built by human hands" (Acts 17:24); rather, our "...bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19). What are your thoughts in discovering you are a temple of God? What are the implications for you personally? I'm curious, when might you--within your body and spirit--sense "echoes" of the first temple, the Garden of Eden? In relationship? In beauty? In mercy? How might the darkness that occasionally suffocates your spirit--that familiar sense of emptiness, of loneliness, of homesickness--be understood as "echoes" of the garden? However it manifests, mightn't it be, at its root, our bodies groaning for redemption and reconciliation with God--the One who "has set eternity in the human heart"? (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Consider the words of C.S. Lewis in light of this post: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world" (Mere Christianity). Michael Fox m�agine! 530/613.2774 407 Myrtle Drive Farmerville, LA, USA 71241   In addition to personal and professional coaching, m�agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching, employing its proprietary models --Values, Vision, Voice and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength-- as well as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator� curriculum published by CPP, the People Development People. Michael's books include  Complete in Christ, Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook, and Biblio�files. Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details. For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net. Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching. On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees. View our archives!