In the Garden

Our new backyard summer garden and my favorite landscaper: my husband.

As much as many of us admire beautiful gardens, we must remember that not everything in the garden is good or beneficial.

 For example, this is our Rose bush:

And this Japanese Lady Beetle will destroy our roses unless we destroy it and her kind first.








And, while I think bunnies are cute, they don't belong in our garden, either. This one, fortunately, was in the neighbor's yard:

Not every wildflower is a weed. Clover is beneficial and attracts bees, as does the wild violet and dandelion: 

But left untended all will eventually overrun the yard and gardens, choking out every other flower or herb we plant. Bees are both beneficial and dangerous; dangerous because of the venom in their stingers, which could either leave welts when stung, or cause a person to go into anaphylactic shock if severely allergic. 

Worry not about the storms in your garden: every planting needs rain. 

Otherwise, we all, like our gardens, would just dry up and blow away like chaff at the first whisper of wind. Can't have that now, can we? 

In the Bible the garden is where we could always find Jesus. He prayed in gardens. He was buried in a garden tomb. He was in the garden when Mary arrived with His burial spices, only to find Jesus alive! And walking in the garden! 

In the garden with Jesus is a good place to be. 

When Jesus Prayed For Us

John 17

• Acknowledges God, the work God had for Him to do, and speaking of that which is to come because of this work.

1. These words spoke Jesus, and said, “Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may be glorified. 2. As Thou has given Him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee The Only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou has sent. 4. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou has given Me to do. 5. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with glory which I had with Thee before the world was.

• He prayed for those who heard and saw The Word in action while He was here in the flesh. 
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• 6. I have manifested Thy Name unto the men which Thou has given Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gave them (to) Me; and they have kept Thy Word. 7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever You have given Me are of Thee. 8. For I have given unto them the words which You gave Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that You did send Me. 9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which You ahve given e; for they are Thine. 10. And all mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. 11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee, Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name those Whom Thou has given Me, that they may be one, as We are 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy Name: those that Thou gave Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, bu the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14. I have given them Thy Word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world 15. I pray not that Thou should take them out of the world, but that Thou should keep them form the evil. 16. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is Truth. 18. As Thou has sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the Truth.
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  • He prayed for the people who would hear The Word and Believe without having seen Him.
  20. Neither do I pray for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; 21.. That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou has sent Me. 22. And the glory which Thou gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One: 23. I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou has sent Me, and has loved them, Thou has loved Me. 24. Father, I will that they also, Whom Thou has given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou has given Me: for Thou loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25. O righteous Father, the world has not known Thee: but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou has sent Me. 26. An I have declared unto them Thy Name, and will declare it: that the lore wherewith Thou has loved Me may be in them, and I in them.  

More Details Visible

The closer you get to a flower, like this red geranium,

 the more details are visible and the sweeter the 

flower smells. 


The same thing happens when we meet God. The 

closer we get to Him the clearer we see Him; the 

sweeter He smells.