Gardens of Promise
I am going to take you on a tour of gardens.
A walk through someone else's garden is usually a delight.
But this time, the paths we will tread upon
may seem similar to the rocky ledges we intrepidly scaffold every day.
Listen closely to the voices heard in gardens of long ago
to reveal a place in our own souls we may have forgotten.
In the first garden we are traveling today,
you may recall as one of history's most famous garden of all.
This is the garden of Eden, the home of Adam and Eve.
It was a place of beauty and perfection, until darkness knocked and humanity open the door.
The promise of God was to be able to walk with Him daily,
enjoying the splendor we can only imagine.
However, another promise was given,
which make many shake their heads in wonder at the reason why.
Why would a loving God create humans in a perfect state,
living in a perfect world, only to give them a chance to lose it all?
As humans, in retrospect, we can mostly see that it was His way of saying -
"I made you.
I love you.
I long for your love in return.
But I will not force you to love Me.
It is your choice.
What will you choose?"
The story continues to this day,
our Heavenly Father loves us enough to give us life,
to give us a world at our fingertips,
a family to call our own,
a career to give life possibility and meaning,
and love beyond comprehension.
But what will we choose to do with what we have been given?
The sons of Adam and Eve, you would think, would have remembered the story that Mom and Dad certainly spent many evenings before bed recalling the beautiful place they once called home, and the simple failure of the one little choice that made all the difference in the world.
But like many today, we tend to forget that which has already happened,
content to go about our business as if the past wasn't really all that terrible.
This is where we find Cain and Abel.
Because of their parent's dark sin of rebellion, choosing to take matters into their own hands;
now the very first family is required to sacrifice something of value to them
in order to be declared free another season.
The definition of sacrifice is: the destruction or surrender of something
for the sake of something else.
Adam and Eve's family had developed occupations according to what each did best.
Abel was the shepherd and for his sacrifice he brought the firstborn, best lamb of the flock.
Cain was the farmer and thought the biggest cabbage and watermelon would be sufficient to show his loyalty.
The promise of God included blood in exchange for forgiveness, however, not cabbages and turnips.
{On a side note - is this where the old adage comes in, "you can't squeeze blood from a turnip"?}
Interesting.
This garden carries the lesson of what kind of sacrifice are we willing to give up in order to gain the greater good?
If you are reading this because like me, you have lost a son or daughter, then you, dear friend, have already faced the sacrifice of love.
It helps me to appreciate the lengths that my heavenly Father went to
just so we can be reunited with Him as free sons and daughters of the King.
so I will fast forward until we come across the garden you may all be familiar with as well.
We are now in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The promise of God to bring Redemption to the entire world is set in motion.
The Babe in the manger has grown to become the Servant of all.
He has taken His followers with Him to the garden to pray.
Little do they know, just how much their Friend needs them this night.
Jesus has come to pray alone, but he desperately needs his friends
to stay awake, pray with, and for Him.
Just as we, in our times of sorrow and loss and heartache,
need friends to carry the load with, and for us.
We can't escape the cup we have been served,
we can only ask God's mercy and strength to bear us through it all.
Our friends may not know what to say to us either,
but just the knowledge that they are there
sitting beside us in our sorrows somehow eases the pain.
Mark 14:32-52 (NIV)
Gethsemane
32 They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba,[a] Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
37 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Simon,” he said to Peter, “are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour? 38 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. 40 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.
I pray this tour will have given you new breath and fresh eyes
to see the beauty of God's creation
and help you find a way to create your own path of peace and grace
because of God's grace given freely to all.
Rebuilding Gardens of Peace
Brick by Brick
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