Tending our Gardens

Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it." Ge 2:15

Yesterday morning as I was walking, I saw a group of people hustling and bustling around a certain area. Some were standing up and some were sitting on the ground. I walked over to see what was going on and noticed that it was a garden they were tending. One woman with sweat on her brow was leaning on her shovel, while another person was pulling up weeds. I noticed that this garden was a special garden, one that was sown in love. It was a memory garden and I’m assuming these people were entrusted to care and tend for the garden.

Of course, my mind started racing about my loved ones and the impact they have made on my life. I recalled how much love, sweat and tears were sown from my parents over the course of my life. I considered the spiritual giants I have had the privilege of knowing as they helped me remove weeds. I have walked the stones of grief through my memory garden, and sown tears watering the ground.

There is a quiet happy spot in my memory garden where my children are still toddlers, and my marriage is both my challenge and my joy. My memory garden boasts of 3 wonderful grandchildren who have helped me revisit my younger days. I have knelt in my garden with a broken heart and raw knees trying to grow faith and hope. Many days I have watched where a single seed of hope was planted praying for rain and future growth. There have been so many times I've had sweat on my brow, leaning on my shovel waiting for God to move. I have a special place in my garden where my sisters and I had pretend beauty pageants, and our little community was whole. My garden has been cultivated by incredible and loyal friends who still tend my garden. As I walk around it this morning, there are still empty acres in which to plant...fertile land for future blessings.

We all tend each other’s memory gardens as we walk out this life together. God has planted a garden of life for each of us and the memories are our blooms. As you go about your day, take a moment to thank God for those who have tended your garden in the past, those who continue and those precious ones up ahead.