In The Garden

It has been said, "a friend is someone who knows you well and still likes you."  Well, it's not just my friends but my family.  No one knows my uh-ohs and oh-nos better than my husband and children: they eat my "burnt offerings," they see me without makeup, they don't comment on my morning hair, and they know me before the day's first shot of caffeine.  Have you ever thought about the hard things that happened in gardens?  Man's worst revolt came about in a garden, and Jesus prayed one of His toughest prayers in the garden: "Father, let this cup pass from me."  Jesus asked if He [really] must face the horrors of death but it was [indeed] the Will of The Father.  For me, Christ surrendered His own will ... for me.  God already knew my faith would be shallow and weak; that there would be times when the world [and my family] would look at me and wonder what difference God really made in my life. Yes, He knew all that and more! But, something happened in the garden: obedience reigned!  "For even Christ pleased not Himself." (Romans 15:3); "It pleased The LORD to bruise Him." (Isaiah 53:10a).  Nothing mattered except that "love grew where blood spilled," and a way be made clear for His child to return to the beautiful Garden where The Father is waiting.  Oh, what a Savior!