My intention is to focus on nature and gardens over the coming months as part of my blog. It may not be an exclusive focus, but to be honest, I am excited to explore this aspect of scripture as part of my spiritual understanding and growth. In this journey, the term gardens will include actual gardens in the Bible, but it will also include other aspects of nature and creation.
For most of my life, my vocation has focused on human relationships, being a social worker and then also a professor of social work and of counseling, for over 35 years. And so, I want to be clear from the outset that my discussion of the importance of gardens does not minimize the significance of human relationships. Absolutely, God calls us to Love him and then to love our neighbors as our first priorities (Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39, NIV). Therefore, our relationship with God and then with others should play a central role in our lives. However, that does not mean that we should minimize the importance of gardens in relationship to God and in our existence.
To begin, I want to provide a foundation for the significance of creation in understanding the God of the universe, and therefore the focus of this blog post will be on chapter one of Genesis. Many of my initial points will be more ideas to ponder that will be elaborated on in some fashion in later posts. And there will be many concepts that I may decide not to include in this initial post. However, my hope is that over the next weeks I will explore the significance of creation and the garden in relationship to our understanding of, and the living out of our faith.
So, to start, I think it is noteworthy that the initial revelation of God to man started with the pronouncement that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Then God goes through each stage of creation from light and sky to land and plants, and from fish and birds to all the other animals. But only then does God reveal how man fits into the creation narrative (see Genesis Chapter 1). Yes, as part of God’s creation He formed man, but He also established all of creation as part of His revelation to man. And therefore, creation should play a role in our understanding, relationship, and worship of God. To be clear, we are not to worship creation, but we should evaluate how creation helps us to see and understand the importance of glorifying and worshipping the creator. And for self-disclosure, over the past 15 years I have been assisting in running our plant nursery, and in 2021 I began doing this work exclusively, so certainly my new role influences my focusing on the importance of gardens. But honestly, I am more than thrilled for this renewed and heightened attention on creation as an additional resource in understanding God.
To know that God created the Heavens and the Earth means that for God to construct the universe, He existed prior to human existence. Therefore, we know that man did not create God, but God created man (“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” Psalm 90:2, NIV). The very fact that God created us establishes that we are to fear and worship God as our creator (But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” Romans 9:20, NIV). And then to try to comprehend that God created this world out of nothing helps us in realizing the immense gap between God’s power and wisdom, and anything man can imagine or establish.
And if one takes the time to see the beauty and complexity of creation, from the microscopic organisms that are needed to break down plant material to enrich the soil, to the flowers and trees that grow from the ground, but are sustained by the rains and sun, you can begin to see the mystery and beauty of the God of creation. Think about how the flowers produce nectar and how they develop seeds and fruits that feed the bees, birds, and other animals. And know that these animals are necessary for pollination so that the flowers can produce the seeds for food, and so that the flowers can reproduce more plants, as this is also amazing. This immense complexity that books and books are written about and only scratch the surface of how life works, has gone on since the beginning of time in unity and balance, being sustained by it’s one and only Creator. And it is exciting to know that you can observe many of these events that sustain nature and demonstrate the wonder of God in the garden.
And as I am writing this blog, I think back to a walk in the garden over the summer where I took time to see and photograph all the different insects that visited our garden in that one hour. As I walked around the property it caused me to pause as each creature that I observed had a uniqueness, purpose and beauty that I would not have experienced outside of the garden. And then as I sat and went through the photographs that I took, I saw even more clearly the intricate designs and varied colors of the butterfly wing, or the different aspects of the fuzzy bee with paper thin wings covered in yellow pollen doing its job, regardless of my presence. And it causes me to think, only a caring and loving God could design such amazing beauty to enjoy in even the simplest of creatures.
But then I ponder about how much more a garden is than the sights of the flowers and butterflies, as the garden impacts all of my senses. I can listen to the cardinals chirping in the wisteria vine, or I hear the buzz of the hummingbird as it leaves the trumpet shaped flowers of the honeysuckle and zooms nearby. And I think about the sound of thunder and the welcome prospect of rain falling in the garden on a hot summer day, and I am thankful for how God sustains the life of the garden. But there is so much more, and I know that I often take for granted other aspects of the garden’s beauty that impact my senses such as the aroma of the fragrant flower of the hosta ‘Guacamole’, or even just the simple smell of the fresh air. And of course, in the hosta garden you can sense the coolness of the shade that is created by the overhead oak trees, or you can feel the smoothness of leaves of ‘Stained Glass’ or the corrugation of the leaf on ‘World Cup’. And I think of the pleasantness of the touch of my wife’s hand as we share with each other the photos we have taken of the wonders of the garden, and I see how she is so much more capable to capture the subtle differences of so many butterflies!
And then I look around and see beyond the boundaries of the garden and as I see the buzzards that sometimes roost in nearby trees as they are soaring in the wind high in the sky, or I think back to the two bald eagles that perched in the treetop right beyond the corner of the garden. And as I gaze to the east, I remember many mornings seeing countless shades of orange, purple and red paint the sky as the sun rises over the horizon. But I also think about the beauty and peace of the sunset after a busy day working in the garden. And even as night falls, I can remember as a child and growing up on a small farm and being able to look up into the night sky and see the stars, and be amazed at the expanse of the universe. But even now, as we come and go from the garden at night I still gaze into the sky, or I enjoy watching the orange colored moon pop up over the distant hillside, and I am thankful for how the garden is encompassed by a God who makes himself known through such beauty and grandness.
There is so much more of God to see in the garden, way too much to write about in one sitting. But I want to conclude by saying that I often think about the garden as a place to understand life and to be renewed. That is why we have seating areas throughout the landscape, and why we will be adding more benches to the garden this coming year. For there is great enjoyment sitting in the garden and reflecting, or in working in the garden and seeing the fruits of one’s labor at the end of the day. But the work in the garden goes beyond trying to beautify an area through digging holes for new plantings or by building a stone wall, as it also involves removing plants that have died, just like this fall where we needed to remove a large locust tree among the hostas. This aspect of the garden helps me to realize that the garden goes through seasons, and that part of the life cycle of a garden also involves death. But it is also comforting to know that the one that created the garden is in full control, and therefore He also has power over our own life and death. And it is also reassuring to know that God’s great power over life itself, displayed in creation and in the garden, can be understand through the Bible, the Word of God. For “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever” (Isaiah 40:8).