INSIDE HIS GARDEN

A garden enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse,
A spring shut up,
A fountain sealed.”
(Song of Songs 4:12)

More than any other verse in the Bible, this one has preserved me through all kinds of seasons in life. It is still my retreat, my protection, and my reservoir of beauty. To my easily frazzled soul, torn by the many voices of responsibilities, this Scripture has become my oasis from where I sift through the demands from outside the garden, as well as my own loud emotions.

Before anything or anyone else, I belong to the One who breathes life to me. I am not a public park where people walk their dogs and feel no responsibility for the place. I am His enclosed garden. And in here, my blood pressure can calm down, so its rush doesn’t deafen my ears. In here, the unessential separates from the essential, and my life finds order and simplicity again. In here, I remember whose I am, and I exhale in His care.

To those who expect from me more than I can give, He fills the gaps. To the tasks that demand more from me than I have, He works the impossible. And the longings in my hungry soul, He gently saturates in His presence ~ when I come into this garden of devotion.

There is a place in His garden
I rarely come to enjoy
The tenderness there is so naked
Its quiet I fear to destroy

There is a depth in His Presence
I hardly dare to believe
For in His heart lives the essence
Of all I could hope to achieve.

There is a victorious Promise
Inviting me into its dance
There, beyond my shy hesitation
I find life itself in His hands.