The garden that is you

It was a flawless June day – bright, clear, no humidity. As I reveled in the warmth, I remembered something a wise gardener told me: When the weather feels just right to you, it may feel very dry to your plants.

Sure enough, when I got to my plot in the community garden, the vegetable seedlings I had set out the day before were lying limp on the ground. I checked the water in the hose to make sure it wasn’t too hot for them, and then gave my plants a long, gentle watering. Those plants soaked up the water and eventually revived, and I took the time to water all the other plants there as well.

It made me think of a sweet passage in the Bible about how we are the garden that God waters. It’s where the book of Isaiah is talking of God’s promise to take care of the garden (us) – to nourish it: “I the Lord, am its Keeper: I water it every moment;” and to protect it: “lest anyone harm it, I guard and keep it night and day” (27:3, Amplified Bible).

In the place where Isaiah lived, water was a very precious commodity. Even in the best of conditions it took a big effort to irrigate vegetation, much more than just turning on the garden hose. This is true in that region even today, especially during the khamsin, a period in the spring when the hot, dry wind blows in from the desert. It’s so hot and dry that opening the door to the outside can feel like opening the door to the oven.

People speak of the “bite” of the khamsim in the same way New Englanders speak of biting cold. But even in the face of the figurative dryness and desiccation of such a “climate,” the promise is that God, the Keeper of the garden, waters our lives every moment, providing a steady supply of what we need, with no danger that our purpose or health or relationships or activities will dry up or wither away.

So what is this water that God provides us “every moment”? What is it that keeps us alive and fulfilling our purpose?

In another place in the Bible, Jesus said that he could provide “living water,” and that “whoever takes a drink of the water that I will give him shall never, no never, be thirsty any more. But the water that I will give him shall become a spring of water welling up, (flowing, bubbling) [continually] within him unto (into, for) eternal life” (John 4:14, Amplified Bible).

Talk about refreshing! As the water from the hose revived my limp Swiss chard plants, Jesus provided us with an understanding of God as our Father, our unlimited spiritual source, and this “living water” continuously refreshes, revives, and rouses us to fulfill our purpose.

When our physical energy is flagging or our joy and sense of purpose seem to be withering on the vine, the understanding that we are cared for by one Father-Mother God every minute, night and day, can revitalize us. The consciousness of God as Love strengthens as it comforts.

We are talking about capital “L” Love here, the Principle and source of harmony and justice and joy, the eternal divine power that can revive, refresh, and maintain every one of us. No one is left out.

Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Monitor, pointed out: “Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters’ ” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 13). This is a power that is reaching us every moment, guarding us from any possibility of losing the robust vitality of our divinely created nature.

That’s a drink that really satisfies.

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