The Garden

The children ran to the garden and joyfully gathered the bounty of fruits that glistened on the vines, trees, stalks, and bushes.  And still, it only grew!  The fertile earth, refreshing rain, and warming sunshine were ever-renewing… always supplying an everlasting harvests.

So... what if someone decided to pull the plants out of the ground and put them in a lavish air-conditioned landscape of painted rocks?  Imagine the architects of this new kind of garden.  They would be boasting of the grand improvements: "See, who needs that messy dirt, water, and heat?  Behold, we have made such wonderful art as well.  Come experience the glory of our superior ways!"

Today, do we consider such "architects" insane? For the rich cornucopia of fruits quickly disappear... as the plants soon wither and die.  And yet, on this day, the "architects" of this new age continue their impassioned work... against little or no resistance. What is their garden yielding?  What fruits are increasingly absent?  One need only check “the news”... or simply look around.

The roots of the Good Garden extend deep into the everlasting wellspring of a God who made us in His image... and is still seeking to nourish us. These are the roots that feed the great ideas of freedom... of compassion... and of enduring meaning and purpose. These are the ideas that led America's Founders to stake the whole Cause upon the foundations of "self-evident truths" and "unalienable rights:" the abiding Gifts of our Creator.

So where have all the gardeners gone? Who is still willing to work in the fields... in the face of consistent insults, and even vicious attacks? Be of good cheer; there is a Good Gardener who will run to us today... as we remember who we are... who He has made us to be. Yes, the work before us will be hard... this is what good gardening requires.

There remains an abiding Hope and even a Promise: An everlasting Garden of abundant Life waits for all! Here is the opportunity the Lord of the Universe has granted to us! And more, He will join us in the fields... His fields... and His Children will rejoice together... forever!  Today is the day of salvation...