For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey… – Deuteronomy 8:7-8

This weekend Rebekah and I did stage two of our plant relocation project. Of course, moving from a good-sized heavily wooded lot in a suburban neighborhood to a tiny parcel of essentially denuded land in a downtown historic district means that “landscaping” will be qualitatively different.

Tabula rasa, however, is one of our favorite places to land. It always leaves such wonderful opportunities for imagination and fulfillment.

I do not think I have ever been inside a more sad-looking broken-down depressed house than the one we are planning to occupy (but that’s not how Rebekah saw it!). Ditto the yard. Fact is, even I – without a green thumb and lacking in design acumen – could probably make some amazing improvements.

But once we move in, and Rebekah begins to get her hands dirty? Well I can promise the garden will experience redemption on a biblical scale.

On the other end of the equation, I sure hope that whoever buys our Wake Forest home understands how fortunate they are to have the ten years of work Rebekah put in. Our collection of Japanese Maple trees, for example, features eight absolutely lovely specimens. Number nine is still in a (large) planter, so this week it was able to make the trip east and will anchor Rebekah’s plans for the front garden on Saint Patrick.

Telling the Redemption Story:

So what is my point, with all this rambling on about the potential of the garden? Well, it doesn’t matter how old we are, how broken we have been, what desolate state we may be in, or what we consider to be the limits when it comes to the reach of belief and love. God is The Master Gardener and when we walk with Jesus the possibilities for renewal and growth are endless.

Watch this space, if you will, and pay attention to what happens over the next couple of years at the house on Saint Patrick Street. Our new home is going to be another opportunity for us to tell the redemption story, and you can be assured that the garden will help to lead the way.

In love, and in confidence that this story is just now beginning – DEREK

God is The Master Gardener and when we walk with Jesus the possibilities for renewal and growth are endless.