Gardens

Yesterday I had the day off so I went with Jenn and Isabel to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. With the seasons changing and the weather becoming hot it was a perfect time to go and wander around. The gardens are really an attraction here in town that is often taken for granted. I have been there a few times, most notably our wedding reception, but this was one of the first times I came there to just walk around and enjoy the surrounding nature.

One thing about the gardens is that along a major portion of their border is a fairly busy road that sits just beyond a fence. When walking near this border you can hear cars and construction, not the sounds that you are looking for when trying to dwell in God's creation. But, it allowed me think about things in a spiritual light as well. In some ways, this situation was the situation of Eden. Here is a perfect place where everything is beautiful and convenient. Just outside the garden, however, is a chaotic world where peacefulness and provision are pipe dreams. Isn't this exactly what Adam and Eve discovered?

Here is another way to look at it. There are times in our lives where we are sitting in the presence of God, experiencing the thin places, when all of a sudden a metaphorical dump truck is laying metaphorical asphalt which is loud and distracting even in a metaphor. It breaks our concentration because it call attention to the outside world. Many of us try to dwell in God, but the truth is that our beautiful relationship with God is bordered by a lot of other relationships that do tend to be chaotic and distracting. Maybe it is our relationship with a person, or with a job, or with money. Maybe it is our relationship with relationships. Dwelling in God is not easy with all of the chaos that pulls us in other directions, but the goal is to keep in mind that the chaos is temporary. And one day we will be walking in a garden just like Eden with the same God who walks with us now.