Gardens are places of work and transformation-yielding sustenance. The scriptures begin and end with man in a garden (and some pivotal moments in the story-line of Scripture involve Jesus in a garden). Each one of us is an “icon” of God with garden cravings — longings for beauty, yearnings for wholeness, a magnetic pull to connect with the divine, and a deep connection to the dirt from which we emerged. Many people’s obsessions in contemporary culture are simply efforts to experience the garden. What if Jesus came to give us samples of the garden now? Every time we see miracle stories in the Gospels, they are indicators or foretastes — free samples of the garden. Jesus came announcing the kingdom of God to invite people back into an experience of the garden right there. Each one of us, as we follow the way of Jesus, becomes a window to the garden. We can live in the garden now, and get the garden then too! In this message we explore this theme and reflect on what Jesus is doing in the garden of our souls!
© The Dwelling Place 2016