Garden Reflections

by Margret “Imma” Buth

Brian and Rachel,

As I’ve watched you prepare for this wedding, I have seen what effort you both have made to make this a meaningful occasion. For some of us, this wedding celebration started with your fun and well organized ‘Catch Us While You Can’ tour that happened last week.

As you have discovered, where and how to get married in Israel can be a challenge. It has been hard work. And I think the Lord has been with you in choosing this place. I think of your past, Brian, and how God has used JUC as the starting point for your years of study and growth here in Israel. Rachel, I think of the start of your life, your birth in Bethlehem, not so far from this place. And I remember the event of the Gulf War, when you and Sharon, together with us parents, lived here on campus in the Eagle’s Nest Loft, as I think we used to call it.
You both have already had many kinds of experiences in this place and in this garden. So, in choosing to marry here, you’re in a sense allowing God to bring you both back to this place. Together we sense that this is meant to be a ??? ????, z’man mo’ed, an ‘appointed time’ and in this appointed place.

As we know, a garden can be a very important place. Many wonderful and revolutionary events have happened in a garden even before this awesome occasion tonight! “Awesome,” I’m guessing is how my son in law Gary might describe it.

It seems God likes gardens, too. He once planted one. In that garden we get to see the first tender moments between man and woman. And in Solomon’s garden we get to watch the unfolding love between a man and a woman, and at a deeper level, between God and his people. In fact, through garden imagery in the Bible, we can learn a lot about God Himself and how He works. Ezekiel, for example, speaks about Israel as the garden of God’s delight. We need to remember that as we see that world events unfold, and to watch and pray for wisdom to live in a way pleasing to God in relation to Israel.

As I stand here tonight, I am reminded of another garden nearby- a place where our Lord Jesus went to pray, to rest and to retreat from the crowds- and the place He chose in his last hour to find God’s strength.

As I stand in this garden tonight, I also think of the plants growing here, all in their season and in their own way. I think of our, our individual design by God, the place He has put each of us to grow and to bloom in His kingdom. He has crowned our lives with seasons- from designated, corporate festival times, like we read about in Leviticus, to the individual times and events of our lives- to make and to mark history- His Story.

Brian and Rachel, may this time in this garden tonight help you to remember to look for and to treasure and guard special times for meeting places with God. May God bring you to the garden- so to speak- for reflection, confession, comfort, renewal, direction and re-direction. May God help you to give back to Him the first fruits of your lives- your intellect, your giftings, your time, your ideas, your dreams and desires, your goals, your physical strength and health, and your wealth. And may this garden serve to remind you both to honor God in the giving of yourselves to Him. May you daily live out your lives thankfully before Him, and with His strength, live in the most appropriate way that you know how to live.

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