In The Garden

Today I strolled through the Butterfly House and Gardens at the Adult Probation Department in Paris, TX. The experience left me refreshed and relaxed. There's just something about nature—the greenery, the flowers, the scent of a recent rain that overrides any stress and burden. The Probationers work hard to keep up with a vegetable garden used to feed people in special programs. The process of gardening has the capability of changing lives for the better. No one can be involved with God's green Earth and not be touched by His hand of blessing. Anytime a person witnesses the plant breaking through the seed, the bud opening into a beautiful flower, or a butterfly emerging from the chrysalis, they are changed.

God provided a garden like no other when He planted Adam and Eve smack-dab in the middle of the Garden of Eden. They had no worries, and little work to do. They were fed from the fruit of the garden, and the walks through the garden with their Lord entertained them. I believe God started a precedent by surrounding the first of humankind with nature. We were designed to get pleasure from being in the garden. Not just fed physically, but also spiritually, emotionally and mentally. One of the best places to talk with your Lord is in the quiet outdoor sanctuary of His creation.

When was the last time you took a time out to breath deeply and see clearly? If you are like me, we allow our schedules to get too busy and our pace to be too hurried to really see the beauty around us. Use all five senses to soak in the Lord's handiwork. Today, I smelled the aromatic plants and tasted of their flavor. My eyes witnessed the beauty. My ears heard the birdsongs and the whispering winds. Taste, touch, hear, smell, and see that the Lord is good.

Our God is good anywhere and everywhere. But oh—in the garden—life is good. He knew what He was doing when He created the Earth and all its goodness, for His good pleasure, and for ours. Let us thank Him for this beauty.