My friend’s garden is how I imagine Eden. The variety of flowers, plants, and wildlife complement each other and delight the senses. Everything has its place. Nature sings. Bees dance from flower to flower. The warm morning sun splashes us with light as we sit together, a teapot between us brewing as we catch up on each other’s news. In such beautiful surroundings, it is like a little glimpse of glory. A perfect start to the day.
Friendship is a glorious gift from God. She shares her heart and I bare mine. Telling her about my recent birthday celebration, I explained how I am so thankful for another year. An acute awareness of my mortality brought on by a cancer relapse has sharpened my eternal gaze. It’s taught me to number my days.
Did I sound morbid? I hope not. My friend sympathised and her warm tone comforted my self-conscious heart. She confessed that she did not think about life coming to an end as much as she probably should. “That sounds awful, doesn’t it?” she admitted. My friend is not the only one. It’s easy to be distracted and distant from death.
When walking through cancer, I remember feeling there was a clear divide between the healthy and the sick. The healthy walk around doing what they want to do. Not a care in the world. Well, they looked carefree to me (which is a lie that I had to fight, and still remind myself that none of us are carefree). They plan their career path, buy a house, raise a family, go on holidays, and save for retirement. It goes on. They look to the next 20 to 30 years like it’s a wide, open road with no obstacles. Life is theirs for the taking. This is often true within the church too.
In the West, we live within an individualised society. That doesn’t mean we don’t care or support the needs of others. But worldly pleasures and success such as money, status, security, comfort, wellbeing and the ‘good life’ can choke the fruitfulness of our life for Christ. When everything appears well, we can creep into self-sufficiency and a false sense of security, chasing the things of this world. Is this really a good life?
Jesus spoke of the trouble his followers would have in the world. We should expect hardship, suffering, and persecution. But Jesus reassured his disciples to take heart for he has overcome the world (John 16:33). We know that he is seated with the Father and will one day return. Heaven and earth will pass away, but his words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). He gave his life for us at the cross; our life is hidden in Him now. Jesus has risen from the dead; we are alive in him now. Therefore we ‘set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things. For [we] died, and [our] life is now hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:3).
With hopelessness and fear being projected throughout the world today, people need to see fruitful, thriving believers. They need to see Christ in us — the hope of glory. As we gaze upon our Saviour with eyes set to eternity, we are free to live the good, abundant life that Jesus gives us — in Him. We can abide in his love and grow fruitful where he has planted us in this season. Whether healthy or sick, rich or poor, our foundation and life is in Christ alone. Like those bees in my friend’s garden, dancing from flower to flower, we can dance and delight in the goodness and grandeur of our loving God.
Ruth Clemence 