The garden. The place where things grow and things die. The place where beauty arises. The place where weeds are pulled, where the muscle of labor is worked to produce a glorious fruit. Not just any fruit, but fruit that remains, that lasts forever. This garden is full of many different assets. Beauty, rest, joy, but also pain, hardship and work. A place where love is awakened, but where love manifests itself through discipline as well. It is here in this place. The place of beauty, humility, but also toil and labor. It is here where He meets us. 

 

There is no life outside of Him being here in this place. He is the water that grows the seed. He is the sun that strengthens the root. It is He, not this place that brings satisfaction. In the midst of time, schedules, relational dynamics, work, labor. In the midst of daily being in this place of giving of myself, and being hedged on every side. The pressures come, the clock ticks, the to-do list waves vicariously in the face, the people wait in line for time, the bank account slowly dwindles, the plow in the field cries out for a hand of labor. The hedges close in. Tighter. Closer.

It's uncomfortable here. I don't like it. I can't breathe as well as I used to. Why here? Why this place? Why is it here that you have chosen to come meet me? Remember when I met you in the place of the garden where beauty and joy was awakened? But why did you choose to meet me here in the labor and toil? "It's not about the circumstance, but about our intimacy. It is in this place that I get to be with you. I get to hold you." In the place of beauty and laughter, I get to hold you, but it is through the winter that the roots of intimacy get to go deep. But only through your "yes" will these roots go deep.

These trials, these persecutions and tribulations they can not take over the joy of holding Him close. No shadow, no fear, no accusation can take that place of embrace. He is the tiller of the ground, the worker of the garden. Joy is found in letting Him be the worker of the garden. That through the seasons, He would be the one found giving strength to the roots and letting the beauty blossom. It is the place where we stand and let Him hold us that our joy is found complete. No matter the season of the garden. If the beauty of the garden is being awakened, or the roots are being painfully cut. Faithful are the gardens that let Him enjoy and take great delight. It's His deep pleasure to love us when we let Him come and dwell in this garden. It is in this place where friendship grows and flourishes in love.