When was the last time you took a twenty minute pause?

Listen to the calming sounds of the waterfall and fountain.
Hear the gurgling and listen to its voice!

Watch the wind gently sway the fountain waters
and nearby plant tops.
Practice looking.

Can you see the fish?
Look deeply. Jesus taught the disciples,
reach down to the deep waters!
How many fish do you see? Count them!

Then STOP counting and labeling...
and just look. Savor. Observe.
Notice the changing shapes and colors,
the whispy fins and powerful bodies,
the reflections off the water surface.
Where is the frog?
He sits right in front of you!
But only those who stop and look will see the green king.

Beauty waits for you here. Do you see her?
Peace invites you here. Can you feel her embrace?
God is here! Do you sense the holiness?
Stop and let the holy seep call forth your soul,
and beckon you from behind the walls of busy-ness,
into the spaciousness of God's presence.

The water garden invites you to rest and prayer.

We also invite you to grow in your understanding
and awareness of God's ever-living Word.

Water has always played a pivotal role of God's saving work.
At creation the Spirit hovered over those seas (Gen. 1:2)
and God separated the waters (1:6).
Four rivers poured out from our primordial home, Eden,
to nourish a thirsty creation (Gen. 2:10).
After humanity turned against God,
waters washed away the sin of the world in the great flood (Gen. 6-9).
And through the waters of the Reed Sea,
God led an enslaved people to freedom, community,
and new life (Ex. 14).
In the desert, God brought forth water from a stone
to save a thirsty, frightened multitude (Ex. 17).
In the waters of the Jordan,
John the Baptist prepared people to face their savior (Mat. 3:11).
Then Jesus himself came for baptism (Mat. 3:16).
From the water jugs in Cana,
Jesus brought forth wine to bless a marriage
and bring joy and hope (John 2).
He fished in the waters, the deeps (Luke 5:4),
and calmed the wind-swept waves when storms threatened (Luke 8).
To the thirsty of body and soul,
Jesus was, and is, and ever will be,
the water of life,
our true wellspring (John 4:14).
All of these stories stir within our memories
as we stand by the water garden.

Fish in the water, remind us of the fish and fisher-people of the Bible.
The great fish swallowed and saved Jonah (Jonah).
Several of the disciples lived through fishing (Mt. 4:8),
yet Jesus gave them a greater calling, fish for people (4:19).
He taught them how to find great multitudes of fish in the deeps (Luke 5)
Two fish and five barley loaves, given to Jesus
fed, five thousand people (Mark 6:38ff).
The risen Jesus ate fish (Luke 24)
and fed the disciples with fish he had cooked
so they would know it was him, alive (John 21)!
These stories stir in our memories as well as we stand by the water garden.

Then explore the plants.
Papyrus with it's dainty stems and star-burst blossoms,
made the stuff for the world's first paper to hold the very word of God.
From papyrus Amram made a basket to save her baby Moses from death, floating him in the River Nile (Ex. 2:3).
Date palms offered a sure sign of life giving water in the desert. These trees reached down and drank from the deeps and the water they found could save you when you were in the wilderness (Ex. 15:27). Those same palms waving through the air, welcomed our savior on his triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Jn. 12:13).

Water lilies provide a source of great beauty. King Solomon used their shapes to adorn the tops of columns in God's holy temple in Jerusalem (1 Kg. 7:19).
Willows, like those beside our pool, stood near the waters in Babylon when our ancestors found themselves far from home and heart-broken. There on the branches they hung their harps and wept (Ps. 137). All of us have our homesick or lonesome times as well.

Fig or ficus trees like the one at the back of the pond are cousins of the biblical fig, whose leaves made a modest covering for Adam and Even when they became ashamed (Gen. 3:7). Every person in Bible lands hoped for a fig tree to give shade from the burning desert heat and food to sustain life (Mic.4:3).
Cattails in the bog behind the pond remind us of the reeds or bulrushes along Egypt's Nile River, where a princess discovered the baby Moses, and gave him a new life (Ex. 2:5).
Tall reeds like those at the far back of the bogs served as a measuring rod in Bible times (Ez. 40:3), and a staff to hit Jesus and to hold the sponge of vinegar offered to him, dying on the cross (Mt. 27).

Iris, a symbol of the undefeatable believer, survives great dryness AND thrives immersed in water, one of the "lilies who take root like the forest of Lebanon," says Hosea (14:5), and will not be shaken.
Several types of rush in the garden (sedge, corkscrew juncus, and variegated rush) all bow down in the winds, says Isaiah (58:5), and resemble all of us when we bow humbled in the presence of God.

Last, we seek out brother frog, who reminds us of the plagues God sent at Moses request to force the Egyptians to liberate our Hebrew mothers and fathers (Ex. 8). God will do whatever it takes to make a way for us when we call out for help. Trust in God. And always watch for the way God will work with you to bring blessings, especially in your times of deepest trial (Rom. 8:28). If God can make a frog into a blessing, imagine what God can do with you, if you let God work through you!

The wind and the rain, the sun and moon and stars, all gather around you as you stand before God's gardens today. They remind us of God's greatness. "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?... O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Ps. 8).

We are drawn to honor God in every wonderful facet of creation like St. Francis.

Most high, omnipotent, good Lord,
Thine are all praise, glory, honor and all benedictions,
To Thee alone, Most High, do they belong
And no man is worthy to name Thee

Praise be to Thee, My Lord, with all Thy creatures,
Especially Brother Sun,
Who is our day and lightens us therewith.
Beautiful is he and radiant with great splendor;
Of Thee, Most High, he bears expression.

Praise be to Thee, my Lord, for Sister Moon,
and for the stars in the heavens which Thou hast formed
bright, precious, and fair.

Praise be to Thee, my Lord, for Brother Wind,
And for the air and the cloud of fair
and all the weather
Through which Thou givest sustenance to Thy creatures.

Praise be to Thee, my Lord, for Sister Water
Who is most useful, humble, precious, and chaste.

Praise be to Thee, my Lord, for Brother Fire
by whom Thou lightest up the night;
He is beautiful, merry, robust and strong.

Praise be to Thee, my Lord, for our sister, Mother Earth,
who sustains and governs us
and brings forth diverse fruits and many-hued flowers and grass.

God's garden reminds us of our calling to love and care for god's creation, literally "to till and to keep it" for God (Gen. 2:15). One of the best joys of this garden is to dig in the earth and smell it's richness, to hold the plants and feel their strength and tenderness, to learn to work in harmony and loving relationship with God's earth as a gardener, just like God and Jesus.

Home... Next... or find your own path through the Gardens!