For the children of Adam and Eve, God tweaked the timetable for the delivery of the gift of life and the gift of paradise. Instead of simultaneous delivery, God instituted sequential delivery. First, God delivers the gift of life. God then inserts a delay - a brief delay. Last, God delivers the gift of paradise. The delay is the source of all our complaints. We don’t complain about the gift of life. We don’t complain about the gift of paradise. We complain about the delay. The delay throws us into a tizzy. In the Valley of Tears, we receive a baptism by fire and we dislike it. The delay, however, is the medicine that increases the likelihood that we will keep the gift of paradise when it is delivered to us. Without the delay, we would repeat the original sin of our parents, Adam and Eve, who let the gift of paradise slip through their fingers - who fumbled the ball. The delay inoculates us against post delivery paradise opt out. God wants more for us - much more for us - than to be his pets locked in a gilded cage for our own safety and protection. Paternalism is not the policy of God. He respects the freedom of our wills. Paradise is not a prison, God is not our warden, we are not his prisoners. No matter how gilded, a cage is still a cage. God wants us to be cage free.