“The Lord God had planted a garden in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 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.
“A river watering the garden flowed from Eden… The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden to work it and take care of it.” Genesis 2:8-10,15
“[Jesus] went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden called Gethsemane, which [they] entered… Jesus… began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…
“‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” John 17:1; Mark 14:32-34,36
“Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus… He was accompanied by Nicodemus [who] brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes… Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen… At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb… They laid Jesus there.” John 19:38-42
From the beginning of the scriptures to the end of Jesus’s life, gardens held importance in God’s providence. John, who traced Jesus’s life from eternity past, ties His part in creation to His place in redemption. The place of perfect beauty and splendor became a place of impassioned wrestling and surrender became the place of poignant waiting and wonder. The fall in Eden necessitated the angst in Gethsemane which made way for Christ’s burial and resurrection. (John 1:1-4; Luke 24:1-8)
The splendor of gardens is that, though there are seasons they lie fallow, they are places of delight and beauty and hope and rest. God is always at work in the unseen, and shows forth His glory in the seen. Which garden holds special meaning for us today?
Are we at a fresh beginning, with nascent wonder of the new thing God is doing in our life or that of a loved one? Do we expect a re-awakening of spiritual hunger or inspiration to apply God-given talent? What work can we rejoice in today?
Perhaps we’re in a place of wrestling, sorrow, or pain. How steadfast are we in prayer, how persistent to endure? How willing are we to yield to God’s perfect will?
Maybe we’ve come to the place where we need to put away unpleasing attitudes or habitual practices that stifle gratitude or destroy relationships. Are we willing to bury past grievances, bitterness, temper, greed? What needs binding up in mercy and putting away forever? How can we sow love, joy, goodness, and faithfulness instead?
“Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
As men of old have sung.
It came, a flower bright,
Amid the cold of winter
When half-gone was the night.
This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere.
True man, yet very God,
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens every load.” ~German 15th century
Lord, may I welcome and bloom in every garden You appoint, to Your glory.
As the rain and snow 