The other week, I was blessed by a few days staying with a dear friend. My friend has a beautiful garden. One afternoon, I was sitting in it, reading and enjoying the sunshine.
In the peace and beauty of that moment, I could feel the sweetness of resting in God; of basking in His love; of knowing all is well for me, His child through Jesus, whatever may come. Yes, I get anxious, and yes, there are trials, but His reassurance is so real. For I belong to Jesus. I am forgiven. I am His. I am following Jesus. My future is in His hands. The One Who made the garden beautiful is the One who is doing beautiful things in my life, too, even when I don’t see the whole picture yet; even when it’s hard. I can trust in Him.
I took up a pen and tried to put it into words.
In the Garden
Richness in a garden basked
In life and colour, warmth and light;
A breeze that ripples, silky; bright
Beneath a vast expanse- wide sky.
To rest within a Father’s arms,
To sit and smile; to know His care;
To hear; believe that all is well;
His love surrounding; everywhere.
I feel the kiss of shivered breeze.
The shadows dance; light moves; I hear
The rustle of the vital world.
I sit in beauty’s gentle bower.
To know the One Who made all this;
So loved; surrounded; endless care.
Soul happy in the loving gaze
Of Him who smiles and soothes each fear.
Fat flowers bob; their purple balls
Rise, dancing in this joyous light.
The wealth of rippling shapes and forms
That grow within this place of life.
Though I know not the way He leads,
His tender whispers quiet fear.
I soften as a weaned child
And smile; He holds me gently here.
All around, the things that grow
Sprout and bud their wholesomeness
And burst with all this rising life
And richly flower their ripening feast.
I know the One Who makes them grow.
Live in the care behind. Deeply.
He feeds each tree; each flower; each seed.
Yes, my Lord holds the world, and me.
My Lord tends to the tiny flower,
All pink and lovely, softly sweet;
So frailly flitting; tender; kept.
Her fragile beauty delicate.
I feel my smallness; know His care.
His touch so very gentle here.
And know that, as the smallest flower,
I am so safely kept; no fear.
In the garden, I can taste
The beauty of His offered grace.
The Hand that holds the world around;
The care that breathed it all awake
And know, behind the awesome power,
The tender love that gives me rest
And sit and still and breathe awhile
And know, soul deep, that God knows best.
(That peace of resting in God’s love can be yours, too, when you know Jesus as your Saviour. He offers each of us forgiveness from our guilt when we turn from our sin, trust in what He did for us on the cross, and choose to follow Him as Lord of our lives. It’s the way of knowing the peace of a Father’s care through all the trials of this broken world, and the way to life forever in His Heaven).
Caroline Abblitt 