IN
THE GARDEN
Austin
Miles 1868-1946
(Joh
20:14) When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus
standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
(Joh
20:16) Jesus *said to her, "Mary!" She turned and *said to
Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).
Just
the other day we were riding in the car headed back from Pensacola
and I heard a preacher on the radio reverently and beautifully read
the lyrics to the hymn, “In the Garden”. No music, just a
wonderful presentation that brought a flood of memories to my mind
and heart.
This
hymn paints for me such a landscape of childhood visions of a
homestead, built with blood and sweat out in the middle of the
Colorado high desert. Grand parents raising a flock of kids in a
three room hand built homestead home. Farmers. Just dirt farmers.
Scraping out a meager living resting their complete trust on the Good
Lord to bless them with the right amount of rain at the right time
and bring a good crop to harvest from the field.
Grandpa
Thompson had no indoor plumbing right up to the very day he died in
the late 50's. It was out-houses and thunder mugs. Water was carried
in buckets from the well to the house; heat was from a tin lined wood
burner that we would stretch the wood overnight by adding a chunk or
two of coal. Oh the sweet smell of cottonwood, oak or pine mixed
with a smidgen of coal smoke on a frosty winter night....
The
hymn below was Grampa Thompson and my dad's favorite and I remember
fondly hearing them sing it after a huge farmer's Sunday dinner of
fried chicken, mashed potatoes, snap beans and home hand-churned and
hand formed fresh butter. The harmonies in the refrain brings tears
to my eyes all these years later. I love this hymn!
I
know that your memories will take a different journey when you read
these words. Our mental travels, however different, will bring us
all to the very same place. That cool, peaceful, fragrant place that
quietly generates an intense love of our Creator.....In the Garden.
I
come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
He
speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
I’d
stay in the garden with Him,
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
Refrain:
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
HAVE
YOU READ YOUR HYMNAL TODAY?
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