Jul
27
A Walk in the Garden
Filed Under Devotional
First images are long-lasting and, sometimes, hard to revise. In my case, the first image of prayer was of someone kneeling with head bowed and hands folded. When I went to church, we knelt on fold-down padded knee supports in front of our seats. To do this for extended periods of time was a painful ordeal for a child. As I now form an idea of prayer, my connection is relationship, not penance. If prayer is relationship, then I want what Adam had: a walk in the garden with God. It was like a child and father walking together. The child was instructed and his needs were being met by someone who loves him. Prayer is a relationship experience, not a duty performed.
We all start our walk with Christ at different points and our journey is like a great chess game. We make our moves and God counters them. We deal with the consequences as we lose pieces, retrace paths, and gain and lose ground. Sometime, in every walk, if one sticks it out in faith, we all converge at some point on the game board. Most pieces are gone, or collected, but inevitably we mature and stop where we are and ask ourselves, “What is the point of the game?” If we are honest, we conclude what Paul concluded:
“[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death,” Philippians 3:10 (Amplified Bible)
What we want is what Adam had and what we were made for: a walk in the garden in the cool of the evening with a Father that loves us while gaining wisdom.