Let's Meet in the Garden

 

It's 3:00 a.m. and I'm tossing and turning in bed. I do this until 3:30, when I decide it's no use and I get up and make my first cup of coffee. It's ok - I'm wide awake, but I know that will mean I'll be in bed early tonight as a result.

I slip into my office and turn the lamp on, take a seat in my pink office chair and open my Bible. The page opens to John, chapter 17-18,  and I read about Jesus praying for his disciples and believers. I'm touched by the emotion there; especially in verse 26 where Jesus says to his Father..."I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them." 

Such a tender love between the Father and Son, and a great reminder of how much they both love us, as well. 

I keep reading into Chapter 18, v.1-2, where Jesus goes into the garden where he "often met there with his disciples," and I'm stopped by the image of this place where Jesus often goes to meet with his closest friends. 

Recently I was reading in Genesis 3:8, where God was walking in the garden of Eden "at the time of the evening breeze" and I was equally touched by this verse and the image of God, our Creator, creating this beautiful garden and meeting Adam and Eve there in the evening breeze. 

It struck me that it makes sense to feel God's presence out in his creation. That's where he often met with those he loved.

Is this why people love to garden?

Is this why we stand outside in the morning sun, close our eyes, feel the warmth on our skin and thank God for another day?

Is this why David and I have been taking pictures of this momma bird, sitting on her nest of eggs, just outside our living room window? We are marveling at her tenacity of creating the perfect little nest and patiently and courageously protecting her eggs until they can come into this world, safe and sound. 

One day David witnessed a male cardinal bring her some food and he was amazed as he called me to the window to tell me what he saw. 

This is God's creation and a little glimpse of the beauty of all that goes on outside. 

I'll admit, I'm not much of a gardener. I don't really have a green thumb. But some of the most precious moments between my Creator and me have been walking along a dirt drive, praying and dreaming with the Lord. 

And many of those times spent praying outside would end with a red bird landing someplace near and I would always say "Thank you Jesus! I know that's you." 

I've always wanted to go to a sunrise church service, where you hold church outside...at sunrise. What a special time that would be to be witness to the new day, as it awakens, and sing praises to the one who created it! 

One Easter we held a church service in the front yard of our little farmhouse. We gathered friends among the trees, with lawn chairs, guitars, and Bibles and we read God's word and sang to the Lord, right there in the front yard with the horses nearby. What a great morning that was. 

We need to do that more often. Get outside the church walls and step into the "garden" with the Lord.

The older I get, the more I realize that God is out there, walking in the evening breeze and even in the morning sun, and he's waiting for us to meet him there. Sometimes he's in the church house too, but more often than not, he's in the garden and he's waiting on the ones he loves to come and spend time with him, enjoying all he's created. 

I want to do more of that. 

How about you?