Clearing the Path to the Inner Gard

“They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD— the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.”

            -Jeremiah 31:12

Literal gardens can be a doorway into the inner garden of our soul. We discover that the greenness and growth things around us lead us down the narrow path to the hidden garden within.

That narrow path, however, can easily become overgrown with the thorns and weeds of this world’s cares. When that happens, we becomes difficult to find our way back to the inner garden of our spiritual life.

Therefore, on a regular basis we need to clear the path to that hidden garden. Cutting down some of the underbrush of life’s busyness and clutter, pulling out weeds of bad attitudes that have sprung up in our hearts, we free up our footpath to the garden. Even more, as we walk that path on a daily basis, we keep it untangled and unclogged.

As we open the door to the enclosed garden, we step into a space set aside for God. In this inner garden, we find that we are content simply to “be.” We are living to the fullest right here and right now. At least for a few moments we are in a place where time and eternity have become one!

2017 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

Garden of the Soul: Entering a Different Inner Space

“The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”

            -Isaiah 58:11

The greenness, beauty and stillness of a garden help us enter a different space within. They help us access a good place mentally and spiritually—a place where we are at peace. Here there is no rush, no hurry to produce.

In each of us is an inner space where prayer resides and poetry springs forth. This inner garden is fruitful with creativity, connected-ness, prayer and inner peace.

Creativity comes forth from our inner garden. That creativity may bubble up in the form of poetry or photography. It might be a unique idea of how we can serve someone in our life. It could take the form of arranging flowers or painting.

This inner place is a space where we are relational. Often in the stress of life we become alienated from ourselves, and we need some room to reconnect with who we truly are. The solitude of the inner garden offers us just such an opportunity.

Prayer likewise grows in our inner garden. Here we reconnect with God in this inner sanctuary of the soul. “Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return,” writes Thomas Kelley. It is “a holy sanctuary of adoration and of self-oblation, where we are kept in perfect peace, if our mind be stayed on Him who has found us in the inward springs of our life.”  [1]

Finally, the place of our inner garden offers us peace. Entering the garden of our soul is so essential for each of us. When we enter that mental space, that inner place, we step away from stress and worry. Our minds stop spinning with lists of things to do and decisions to make, and we find some stillness. This hidden place within is where our true self resides. This is not the self we try to project to the world or the self of achievement and activism; rather, it is where we are free to simply be.

Thus when we step into the garden mentality—away from the pressure to produce—we ironically find that this garden is bursting with produce! That produce, however, cannot be manufactured in an efficient production line—it can only be cultivated in peace.

[1] Thomas R. Kelley, A Testament of Devotion (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1941, 1992), pp. 3-4. 

2017 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”

Taking Time for the Garden

“The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.”

            -Isaiah 51:3

Gardens are so important in life. They welcome us to set aside the work-a-day world in which we live—even if only for a few minutes—in order to see life and creation and God’s goodness afresh.

However, we must be intentional about taking time for the gardens in our lives. The pervading busyness and multitasking of our everyday life militates against the nurturing of gardens. We are so preoccupied with all our activities and keeping up with all the media and information that are available to us that we fail to take time to “smell the roses.” That sad reality makes the gardens in our lives all the more important.

Gardens come in all shapes and sizes. From a vegetable patch in the back yard to a manicured rose garden, from a sprawling park in the city to a small collection of green plants in front of an apartment window, spaces set aside for growing things can constitute a garden. They offer us a place to retreat from buildings and bricks in order to refocus ourselves.

Strolling through a garden and smelling the flowers—or sitting for a while on a bench, noticing the shades of green and smelling bouquets of blossoms—slows us down and focuses our lives on the truly important. It sensitizes us to the reality of stillness, relationship and beauty. Such tangible gardens become the doorway into our own inner garden.

2017 © Glenn E. Myers

This series is Creation Proclaiming God’s Divine Nature, as Romans 1:20 declares, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.”