Why does the “Garden” matter? What does this analogy help us to grasp? For starters, this imagery reminds us that God invites us to operate within his order, and that’s something our egos wrestle with; we struggle to believe that his way is better than ours. Why would we want to surrender the control we have over our own lives? We’ve got our own plans and systems established. We know what we want, and we know how we plan to get there. We’ve read the books, studied the mentors, followed the leaders. We are familiar with the ways of the world in which we are living. How could it be any other way? How could anything else be realistic?
But the world and the people in it can only lead us so far. There comes a point in many of our lives where we realize how heavy a burden it is to carry your own plans and systems. There are limitations in our human strength and eventually that strength runs out.
I know this story. When I reached a certain point, when hardships and loss were stacked so heavy on my back, I discovered I had finally reached the bottom of the barrel of my own strength. There simply was no more. So what did I do? I fell to my knees for the first time in my life, and I asked God to help me. My heart was broken open and ready to receive the truth of his saving grace.
When we run out of strength, we have somewhere to go— someone to run to. We don’t have to wait until we reach the breaking point to come here. However, it tends to happen that way because many of us are not convinced it’s realistic until we get to a point when we are willing to go there if it means we may find relief. I don’t know about you, but that was my stubborn story.
“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15
The Garden analogy helps us to recognize there is an order here, although it is very different than what the world teaches us. In God’s way, in his Kingdom, we begin by first seeking Him; seeking first the Kingdom of God, rather than the kingdom of me. (See Matthew 6:33)
“The Garden Matters”
This may be a difficult concept at first. It was for me. It helps to have a visual, especially when my eyes struggle to see this way being exemplified in the culture around me. This painting titled “The Garden Matters” illustrates the layers of this divine order. Now, when I find myself swirling in confusion or overwhelmed by the pressure that I have let myself take on, or when I am reaching the end of my barrel of strength, I simply recall that I have stepped out of order. I remember this painting, and I see that I went walking around in those outer spheres of my life before I spent time in the inner circle with God. When we begin every day in the inner Garden, we are prepared to go outward. I aim to make every decision, especially the big ones, by starting in the Garden, before venturing out with a plan. That concentration of color and light is the center from which I build my life. The Garden is where I meet with the Father— one to one. It’s where I experience the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23; where I receive restoration and care. It’s the place of refilling and strengthening.
When I attempt to fill up and strengthen myself, my stock is limited. But when I seek his strength, the flow is supernatural, immeasurable and without limits. Once I’ve gone low and slow there in the Garden, once I’ve been restored and prepared and filled to overflowing, only then am I ready to go out and make my way through the world.
The Garden Matters because we live in a world that sets a different example. It’s easy to get caught up again in the world’s order. A figurative concept like “The Garden” reminds us how it all begin, how it was his design to walk with us in the “cool of the day”, and how we are our best selves when we are seeking him first. (see Genesis 1-3)
As believers, we are not limited to experiencing him on Sundays. He is not compartmentalized into one day of the week. He isn’t sprinkled on top of the other days of the week, either, like a little added flavor to keep us looking “Christian”. He is the center, the beginning of everything. He is superior to all. Rather than adding a little faith on top, we are invited to build our lives on the Rock solid foundation. (Matthew 7:24-27)
Begin in the Garden before heading out into this wild world and its upside-down ways.
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Music: “Communion”