Secret Garden

 

One of my favorite books from childhood is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 

While Mary Lennox, newly orphaned, had been materially pampered, she was emotionally starved. Upon her parent's death, she was sent to live with a reclusive uncle at his desolate home. Her spunky, inquisitive nature lead her to explore the grounds of Misselthwaite Manor where she discovered a locked garden. When the garden had been created, it was a beautiful gift from Mary's uncle to his beloved wife and the young couple spent many hours enjoying its beauty. When tragedy struck, the garden was locked and left abandoned. 

Facing that locked door may have been one of the first times anything had been withheld from spoiled Mary. She was intent on gaining access to that space. It's interesting how that locked door began to awaken something within Mary. She was a child with a dormant heart longing to gain access to a dormant garden. As the story progresses, the transformation that happens within that locked garden is enchanting. But the regeneration of Mary's heart and those around her is of even greater significance. 

Within each of our hearts is a garden. Those who are strangers to misfortune or tragedy may have a beautiful, thriving garden. For others, the garden of their heart is locked and its key buried in response to loss, failure, rejection, or unrelenting hardships. An untended garden will soon become choked by weeds and its beauty will be obscured. I love how the author instructs the reader in Chapter 27 about the relationship between our thoughts and the garden of our heart:

"One of the new things people began to find out in the last century was that thoughts--just mere thoughts--are as powerful as electric batteries--as good for one as sunlight is, or as bad for one as poison. To let a sad thought or bad one get into your mind is as dangerous as letting a scarlet fever germ get into your body. If you let it stay there after it has got in you may never get over it as long as you live...surprising things can happen to any one who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place.

'Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow.' 

While the secret garden was coming alive...two children were coming alive with it." 

As readers see what happens when the seeds of love and nurture are planted in Mary's life, the results are enchanting. The supporting characters: Martha (her maid), Dickon (resident animal whisperer), Ben (the gruff gardener), and Colin (the spoiled heir) all play a part in awakening the garden of Mary's life. As Mary's heart opens up to new discoveries and new beauty, she is able to bring about a  transformation in the lives of her sickly cousin and her grief-stricken uncle.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Every day we contend with weeds that seek to take over the soil of our heart and mind. And the key to that war of weeds is offered by Paul in Corinthians 10:5.

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (ESV)

Daily, the believer must pull weeds that crop up, for when left alone, they will soon crowd out whatever else has been planted there. 

In the garden of your life, are you tending roses or allowing thistles to take over? The world offers an array of "seeds" all packaged and ready to germinate: seeds of dissension, unrest, comparison, and discouragement. On the other hand, Christ offers seeds of His grace, mercy, and love. The key to a carefully tended garden is making sure that the weeds seeking to choke out the good seed are removed and plants are consistently pruned to maintain optimal fruitfulness. The Master Gardener longs for us to bear fruit. He regularly prunes our life, removing weeds, and coaxing new growth in our heart. And while pruning may for the moment be painful, it is intended to increase our fruitfulness as described in John 15:2, 

"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." (ESV)

It is interesting to notice that pruning can be to take away a branch that bears no fruit. And it can also be done to a branch that is already bearing fruit, in order to increase its fruitfulness. In either case, the goal is the same: that we may bear more fruit.  

The First Garden

Let's consider another garden, one of complete perfection, one that was tended by a Master Gardener. And the two first humans residing inside managed to allow a thistle to grow in their midst when they first listened to the serpent within the garden. That crafty creature caused them to question God's instructions and to doubt the very words the Creator had spoken. 

As the seed of sin took root in their hearts that day through their act of rebellion, that perfect garden was lost to them. In the Gardener's perfect timing, the key to a restored relationship with those He created, was brought forth in the form of Christ coming into the world as a baby, living out a perfect life, and sacrificing his life in payment for the sin of whoever would repent and receive him. Christ is Himself the Divine key to open the doors to a restored relationship with our Creator so that we may live forever with Him in the Garden of Heaven. 

He is the key that not only unlocks the gates of heaven but enables us to have an abundant life while on earth according to John 10:10b, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (ESV)

Are you seeking an abundant life or settling for a garden taken over by the weeds of rebellion, discouragment and sin? Will you choose instead to allow the Gardener to bring back to life the beauty and purpose He intends to be planted there?  

Emerging From Winter

In The Secret Garden, the once beautiful garden created out of love for Mary's aunt, lay dormant and neglected for several years. Through much of 2020, you may have felt that your own life was in a season of dormancy--many of us were literally hidden away in our homes, removed from the world and its comforts as well as the warmth of relationships due to social distancing. It was a season of drought from the joys and milestones we often celebrate together. If you feel like you are still in winter, take the time to think ahead to what you hope to plant in the garden of your life in 2021.

In order to cultivate a healthy, thriving garden, it helps to find a trusted friend who can help you tackle weeds and help plant new seeds. Friends can help water and nurture your garden. But ultimately, the responsibility for the condition of your garden will be up to you. Will you surrender to the Master Gardener and allow him to lovingly prune areas of your life that need to be removed? Will you patiently wait for the new growth that only He can bring about in your life?  

In the years that I let the garden of my body become a neglected mess, I buried dreams and hopes. I believed for too many years, that health was locked away and the key was hidden. I had accepted Christ and professed to love Him but I had wrongly believed that my physical body had no bearing on my spiritual life. It was as if I gave the Lord permission to certain parts of my life but kept my physical health tucked away in a hidden corner, refusing to give Him the key to begin restoring that part of me.

I pray that if others have wrongly believed that their physical temple has no bearing on their spiritual health, that you can learn from my past misery.  The Lord longs to prune your life in all areas: soul, mind, and body. And He does that for our own benefit and to bring greater glory to Himself. If you need help tending your physical garden, let me be a Dickon to you. I will gladly supply gardening tools and help offer the encouragement and nurture that will help bring restoration to your physical health. 

If you are standing outside the locked garden to the Kingdom of God, the first step is to surrender your life by acknowledging that you cannot save yourself but need Christ to open the door to salvation. And once you have settled that issue, I pray that you will allow the Master Gardener to fashion your soul, mind, and body into a vibrant, thriving garden that will be a delight for Him to dwell in.

Additional Resources

The Secret Garden audiobook read by Glenda Jackson is delightful. (You can listen free with an Audible trial). Read my review at Live to Read to Live.  

The Secret Garden full text is available free at Sparknotes. If you prefer a book you can hold in your hands, I love the edition with illustrations by Tasha Tudor available from Amazon (affiliate link).