Gardens

I love gardens. I love visiting gardens and enjoying other people's creativity and expertise.

I also have a wee bit of a garden myself. I bought some of my plants, but some of them were given to me by folks who also love to garden. Some of my garden I engineered myself, and some of it was a labor of love by friends who wanted me to feel better during a really hard time.

I love what part of a garden I do have. It's a work in progress, just like me . . . and you. I absolutely go bonkers when something blooms. (I wonder if God goes bonkers when we finally bloom.) While some flowers bloom early, others bloom late, but both are beautiful. (Just like us.) While some plants grow best out in the full sun, others need the shade, but both are fully alive. (Again, like us.)

I love the aliveness of a garden - the songs of the birds, their antics in the birdbath, the hum of the hummingbirds, the breeze, the shade, the colors, the shapes, the smells, the textures, the rocks, the moss, the birdhouses, the creak of the swing, the music of the wind chimes, the chirp of the crickets at dusk, the stars and moon at night, the warmth of the sun by day. I think I like the colors and the fragrances best of all.

I especially love the garden in the wee hours of the morning when the sun begins to visit. I also enjoy it in the aftermath of a gentle summer rain.

I've been thinking about gardens today because of a verse I read recently - Song of Solomon 5:1. "I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride."

In this verse, the Lover - Jesus - is speaking. That made me wonder about the gardens that He loved. I thought of three.

• Eden, or "Paradise Lost"
• Solomon's garden, or "Paradisde Delayed"
• Gethsemane, or "Paradise Regained"

When I think about how much I enjoy my own garden, I can minutely understand how much pleasure Eden must have given Jesus. I can't even begin to imagine how He must have felt when man sinned and had to be locked out of Eden. Oh, what loss!

When I think of Gethsemane, I am humbled. Oh, what Jesus suffered there. But, He must have loved that place because here He humbled Himself and said His final resounding "Yes!" His yes opened doors for us that nothing and no one could ever again shut. His yes ushered in reconciliation and renewal and restoration and redemption and heaven. Oh, what gain!

Somewhere between the loss of Eden and the blessings of Gethsemane exists Solomon's garden - "Paradise Delayed." In this garden, we now live. Here a continual divine dance called hide-and-seek transpires. He is the Lover, hidden in the garden. We are His beloveds desperately trying to grab hold of Him. This holy chase lies between His promise and its fulfillment. Oh, the agony of the delay!

Some days, I'm really impatient. Well, most days.

Thank you, Jesus, for the invitation and the promise. Maybe next year in the new Jerusalem.