The Garden

When my son Oliver was two years old, he had rolls that went on for miles, and his cheeks were round and precious. It was bath time, and as I pulled off his little motorcycle t-shirt he stared at me with his big, beautiful brown eyes. I squeezed his round cheeks, and began to tell him how much I loved him. I had this moment, a mama moment of pure bliss and awe of the little human that calls me mom. While holding his cheeks, he kept trying to pull away from me yelling, “DIAPER.” I would try to get his attention, but he kept pointing to his diaper, yelling over and over again. “Oliver, mommy just wants to love you and tell you how amazing you are.” “Diaper, diaper, diaper!” He spoke with such frustration in the fact that I had not taken it off yet so he could get into his bubbly bath. Feeling a sense of defeat, I let go of His cheeks, took off the diaper and let the boy get into the water.  

In that very moment, God said, “you do this too you know.” Every attempt that God makes to show us His great love, every effort to hold our face and remind us that He created us perfect in His image. Every effort to say, “I knew you before I formed you in the womb, and I call you by name.” In all of those precious moments of relationship and intimacy, how many times am I yelling, “but what about my big important diapers?” We worry about health, safety, finances. We worry about relationships, future plans, housing and cars. We worry about our kid’s behavior, development, and schooling. We worry that the day might have something bad in it or something might happen to our loved ones. Sometimes as believers we get off balance in a sea of worry, that starts to drown us before we know what is happening. 

When God reminded me to focus on Him and not the problems, I had to go back to the scene of the garden. A place, where worry gets trampled and the invitation into His presence is received. A place to be still and know that God loves me and is for me. A place where we do not need to talk, but to just be. It is in those still moments, that your faith is renewed, your mind is at ease, and peace like a river flows through each and every part of your soul.

In our walk with God, there are times we need to receive His love and times that we need to let our requests be made known. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” This scripture is beautiful in the fact that it is okay to make your requests known to God, but leave out the worry and anxiety, and remember to be thankful in all of it. Take a moment this week to walk in the garden with Jesus, to spend time with Him and let Him love on you and hold you, mend your broken pieces, and find joy as you tarry there together.