Gardening for the Soul

Yesterday I was checking on a lady who had lost her mother a few months earlier.  She had been grieving deeply, but noted she was doing better.  Why?  She got together with her sisters a few times (though spread through a tri-state area). She had been attending her congregation weekly (synagogue, in her case).  She was writing to her mom in her journal.  And she had been gardening.  All these had been means of restoration.

A major benefit of this season for many is the chance to get back to gardening.  What makes gardening so good?  There is hope: “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” said Audrey Hepburn.  There is grace:  “There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments” (Janet Kilburn Phillips – I dedicate this observation to my wife!).  Practically speaking, someone noted that “Gardening is cheaper than therapy – and you get tomatoes!”  And from a spiritual perspective: One is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on Earth. (Dorothy Frances Gurney).  

Three gardens are featured in a massive stained glass window in a Kansas City church.  Picturing the story of salvation.  First is the Garden of Eden, the first human home.  Watered by a river.  Featuring all kinds of trees that were pleasant to the eye and tasty to eat from.  Along with the Tree of Life.  Where we were invited into union with God.  And where union was lost.

To the other side of the window is the garden in the middle of Main Street in heaven. Watered by a river flowing from God’s throne.  Featuring that Tree of Life, bearing fruit each month.  With leaves “for the healing of the nations.”  Where union with God and his people will be restored.

In between these perfect gardens at the beginning and culmination of time is another garden.  The garden of Gethsemane.  Or, at least an olive grove, as John notes.  But John also notes a garden where Jesus was crucified and buried.  We are told nothing specifically about the beauty of these places, or what was growing there.  Just what happened there.  That in these gardens Jesus suffered separation from God and then from life itself.  And there, overcame death.  And opened the way for spiritual reunion.

The brief biblical descriptions remind us that a garden can be a place of beginnings, of failure, and at times, of suffering.  But especially, a place of hope and renewal.  So may you be reminded in your favorite garden or park this season.