As I walked Kiki and Dolly this morning, a dear neighbor commented on how lovely my mom’s garden looked. I thanked her, but I knew the truth, as I continued on my walk across the street, so I stopped and took a look at the garden and yard from my neighbor’s perspective. Yes it seemed pretty enough, but I knew how unattended it really was. That is how our spiriual lives are as well.
After the walk, and placing the doggies inside, it occurred to me it was necessary to make the time to be out “in” the garden, in order to see the dead leaves, and the “stuff” that was hampering the flowers growth. A close intimate look at the garden showed all the things that needed to be worked on.
From memory, I recalled the scripture in Genesis 2:8 which reads, “And the Lord God planted a garden..” I meditated upon how Adam met with the Lord daily in the Garden, and later God met with both Adam and Eve in the garden. Genesis 3:8 is a striking scripture and reads (in part).. “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day..” Can you imagine such a time! There was a set appointment, place and time.
“As I pulled the weeds threatening to choke a young rose plant, I thought about how sin had crept into the garden, and because of sin and disobedience, the ground had been cursed (Genesis 3;17 – 18), and thorns and thistles were among the beauty God had created.” Adam and Eve were driven from the garden (3:23 and 3:24) and ever since man had had to toil in every sense.
Yet as I was finishing up the days gardening and watering the plants, I remembered that although Adam was no longer in Eden, God’s presence never left him in all of his 930 years of life. Compared to that we live such short lives, but the times of tribulations and trials seem like a lifetime.
I ended my meditation for the morning with the thought that despite the weariness we might feel in our bones, and sometimes heavy hearts depending on what circumstances we are living, we in the end have to weed through to the truth, and that is that despite what comes our way, the condition of our heart and soul must be tended to.
It is imperative that we meet daily with God in the garden. For some the garden might be on their knees in a private place, for others it might be on the way to work, or in their office cubicle, or while riding the bus. It might be while you’re preparing a meal, or even while tending a garden.
This I know for sure, that if we take time to meet with God, we too can say “I” heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
This song came into my spirit as I wrote the above:
It is Well with My Soul with some history From: Chris3jam
Contemporary version:
It Is Well With My Soul From: ronikadee
Be blessed family and friends!..Alma
