Friday, May 30, 2014

The Gardens Of Life

Life is as a series of gardens that we walk through.....

In some we may sit and rest and enjoy the loveliness which is all around us. These are gardens of refreshing and healing and renewal. But in some we will toil and labor... the ground may be rough and rocky, and the soil may not be easy to till. As we struggle there we will learn new skills and acquire new “muscle”..... wisdom.

Some of the gardens might be somewhat barren, and we will learn there to lean on the Lord for understanding and provision. These might be called gardens of trust.

Occasionally we might pass through a garden of sorrow. In our time there we will know comfort and the depths of God’s love and caring.

Or we may pass through a garden where each path has specific directions which we must follow... signposts everywhere. Some of these instructions we may not understand, but as we carefully walk the paths of this garden we will learn obedience.

Perhaps we will find ourselves in a hidden garden..... isolated and out of the way..... and wonder what we are doing there. It is there we learn to be contented with whatever daily measure God gives us. We learn gratefulness.

There will be many gardens and many experiences along the way, but as we live and walk in these “gardens” we will begin to know God. Each of these gardens will bring blessings of perspective and understanding which we could not have found any other way. We will begin to see the flowers of God’s goodness around us in each of the gardens.

To avoid or rush out of a garden too soon is to miss God’s precious handshaping of our lives, for in each garden lies a treasure. As we pass through each garden then it’s fragrance and understanding will become part of our lives.

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
II Peter 1:5-8 KJV

© 2006 Arlene Schwartzkopf