Forever Flowers Flowing Freely
Walking is good exercise, but for me it has become a spiritual heart exercise. It is there out in the open air with the wind blowing on my face, or the sun warming my skin, or the scent of the rain filling my nostrils that I have learned to quiet my heart and listen for the Creator's voice. I hear it often. Sometimes in a quiet whisper and other times in the crack of thunder. However it comes I've learned to listen more and complain less.
Today I was contemplating the clover that has bloomed in the grass with the warmer weather. It is just now the season of winter, but Houston has fluctuating temperatures this time of year and the plants get a little confused. I thought, how like God to bring life during a season where plants are usually dormant. Then a thought came to me, what if God uses the seasons of our lives to plant a garden in heaven for each of us? I was reminded of a book, The Shack. If you have not read it, I highly recommend you do so. If you are not a reader, it has been made into a movie. Word of caution, it will break your heart and then repair it again. In the movie the tears of the main character were used to water a beautiful garden. The visual was amazing.
I thought to myself, do all the tears we cry here water our personal garden in heaven? Why did I even have this thought? Seems an odd thought to just randomly pop into my head. But there it was. I like to think that when these random thoughts happen that they aren't random at all. They are purposely put there by the Holy Spirit. They are gifts, glimpses of what awaits us. Why not? God has always communicated with man. He started out talking to Adam in the Garden. He is a relational God, so let's relate. Maybe this garden that I think about is so much more than a garden, but the reality of it is too much for my earthly mind to grasp. God wants us to be assured that what lies ahead is more wonderful than anything we have here. He knows we are limited to what we understand. We know gardens. We know sunsets and sunrises. We know food and fresh water. Skydivers and cliff jumpers have even experienced flight!
Our God talks to us all the time. Are we listening? I didn't listen before, but now I can't help but hear. This world is not our home. What a relief! We are sojourners on our way to some place that can't be adequately described by using earthly references. Just reading Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation where these men of God were given visions of the spiritual realms, tells us that what we see now is nothing compared to what lies ahead.
I have Imagined Jesus shaking the crepe myrtle trees as I walked under, so that their flowers rained down on me. I've Imagined Jesus causing flowers to bloom in the winter just to bring a smile to my face. I now Imagine Jesus tending to my garden and watering it with the tears I cry here on earth. It is getting a good amount water this week! The great thing about my heavenly garden, the flowers never die. They never fade or lose their colors. They never fall apart and tumble to the ground. They never lose their scent or cease to dance in the breeze. They are forever blooming in vibrant colors.
It brought a smile to my face to think of Jesus in my garden eagerly awaiting my presence there, so he could walk with me and tell me all about it. "This was planted when your mother came here," pointing to a vast sea of sunflowers. "And these, when your father arrived," a climbing rose bush filled with yellow roses stands before us. "And your sister planted this one for you herself," he would say as he touches the draping Wisteria vine with largest deepest purple flowers imaginable. "She helped me water it those first few days. It grew so fast, and she said 'Gini will love these'."
What will your garden look like? Imagine it. What would be planted for each occasion? Would it be a remembrance garden of both the happy and sad times? Would it be all one type of flower? Would it be grapevines and fruit trees? Mine will have bees, rabbits and birds! There will be places to sit and paths to walk barefoot with my friends. There will be hills covered in wildflowers, and valleys filled with daisies. The rose garden will be so fragrant that the scent will lift you high into the air. The sunflower patch will have a friendly scarecrow and be surrounded by a white picket fence. The scent of earth mingled with herbs will be there, too. It will be heavenly!
Cherish every moment you are given, because your garden is growing. Don't be afraid to cry happy tears or tears of sorrow. They are watering a garden unparalleled in this life that waits for you in the next.
Happy New Year!
Genesis 3:8 "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day..."
Isaiah 43:18-19 "“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."
Psalm 126:4-6 "Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them."
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