Which Garden Will I Tend?

Timl1980 · October 5

Ooofta!

This one got me, my friends.

I was doing well...my day had been spent engaged in various forms of spiritual activities...I was feeling warm and well spent...and to top it all off...here I was, sitting around a roaring fire in our backyard firepit with a brother I dearly love...and that's when it happened...that's when Satan struck.

Is there any excuse? Can I find anything else to blame it on?

Sure, I had an alcoholic drink in me...I was warm, well fed... relaxed...my eyes were locked onto the dancing flames in front of me...watching the swirling flames dancing and crawling over the logs within.

I was with a dear friend...my words were flowing freely...and my ADHD was pulling my mind in a thousand different directions, as usual...but none of that can account for what happened next.

"You know...sometimes I really miss..."

The words poured out of my mouth, followed by a gushing torrent of jumbled thoughts and feelings that reminded me of a video I watched on YouTube once...a video of a peaceful river suddenly turned into a churning roiling mass as ton after ton of dirt, rocks and broken trees come sliding down into it from some sort of violent landslide above.

I talked and talked and talked...kind of like I'm doing right now. 😅

To his eternal credit...this poor brother remained silent and simply listened...his own eyes glancing from me to the fire...and then back again.

I am not going to go into detail about what I missed...I'm sure each and every one of you reading this could fill in the gap with your own diatribe...and I don't want that.

Finally, after several minutes...I fell silent...not even able to look up at my dear friend for fear I would see the dreaded look of severe judgement on his face. He remained quiet for a moment, and we sat in what I felt was a deafening silence...the crackling and hissing of flames the only sound in the evening air.

"Tim... can I share a scripture with you?" He asked finally, picking up his phone from the grass and flicking open the JW library app.

I nodded, and swooping up my own phone...I joined him in reading the following verse:

Philippians 3:13: " Brothers, I do not yet consider myself as having taken hold of it; but one thing is certain: Forgetting the things behind and stretching forward to the things ahead,"

Then this brother proceeded to give me an illustration that opened up the meaning of this verse in a completely different way than I had ever thought of it...and that's what caused me to get up early this morning...so I could share this with all of you.

"Tim... have you ever heard of the Poison Garden?" He asked.

I shook my head; the name didn't sound familiar.

"It's a garden in the UK, it's actually part of a larger set of gardens called the Alnwick Garden." He explained, going on to tell me about how this particular garden has over 100 various deadly and poisonous plants in it...so much so that they even placed the symbol of a skull and crossbones on the front gate along with a printed warning that these plants can kill humans.

This dear brother then went on to explain how the way through this garden is guided and that your experience is extremely limited...guests are not allowed to touch taste or smell anything...and yet, he added...even still some people have fainted from inhaling the toxic fumes just from walking through it!!

I asked if he had been to the garden himself...and he shook his head and said his knowledge was just from some research he had done for one of his talks. He said that this garden required constant attention...and that the staff had to wear special gear just to take care of it. He also said there are signs indicating that visitors must stay on the designated paths in order to remain...quite literally...alive!!

This brother then asked me to describe my vision of the New System...and when I looked at him blankly, trying to understand the correlation...he just prompted me to go ahead...visualize it...and try to put it into words.

I hesitated...then fumbled around with a bunch of mental pictures, attempting to put all of that into word format...and it came out all jumbled and fractured...but he just patiently listened as I rambled on about beautiful settings, the resurrection, people regaining sight and speech and mobility...and no more pain...no more tears...no more death.

After a couple of minutes, I started to cry...I choked up...thinking of seeing my sister and brother again...of finally being able to breathe truly fresh spiritual air without the presence of Satan and his demons...it was overwhelming. Putting it all into words finally failed me...and once again silence fell in my backyard save for the still crackling flames.

"Do you get it?" He asked me finally, staring at me with very gentle eyes.

Friends...my dear brothers and sisters...I finally actually did.

This dear brother had walked me through two separate gardens in the space of a few minutes...without overdoing it, (which I apologize for doing so now), he showed me the vast difference between what Satan has to offer...and what Jehovah offers to each and every one of us.

Two gardens...both beautiful and lush...but one that is filled with poison and danger...restrictive in nature...and will ultimately result in death if explored.

The other: stunning and majestic...open to all...free to roam and play without the slightest hint or fear of any harm whatsoever...and best of all...a garden we can enjoy forever!!

Friends...my dear brothers and sisters...is it any wonder Paul advised us to forget the things behind...neglect the garden full of our past that will only bring us sickness and death...and to stretch forward to the things ahead...the garden overflowing with beauty of every shape size and color...a garden in which we are free to use all of our senses...a garden where all of us can be together...everyone who loves Jehovah.

The only question left for me is a simple one: Which Garden will I Tend?