A Garden With a Little Gate

A Garden With a Little Gate

God never intended His gardens to be surrounded by high walls.

They are places of welcome, beauty, rest, and life.

Places where weary souls may wander, where children may laugh, where birds find a branch to sing from, and where flowers quietly tell of their Creator.

But every good gardener also knows the value of a little gate.

Not because the garden is meant to be hidden, but because flowers need protecting from weeds, and fruit needs protecting from those who would take without asking.

A faithful gardener is hardworking, attentive, watchful, and patient.

He waters what has been entrusted to his care. He gently prunes what needs shaping. He pulls the weeds before they spread. He watches for predators before they destroy.

Not because the garden belongs to him, but because he loves the One to whom it belongs.

That is stewardship.

Scripture reminds us:

“Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” — 1 Corinthians 4:2

A gardener is a steward.

A writer is a steward.

An artist is a steward.

A grandmother is a steward.

A teacher of God’s Word is a steward.

Each of us has been entrusted with something precious.

Our gifts do not ultimately belong to us. Our abilities, opportunities, stories, families, homes, ministries, creativity, time, and resources have all been placed into our hands for a season.

And perhaps that little gate says something beautiful:

This garden is open to all who come in peace. But because it has been entrusted to my care, I will lovingly guard it.

The gate isn’t there because the gardener fears people.

It is there because the gardener loves the garden.

There is a difference between building a wall and tending a gate.

A wall says,

Keep out.

A little gate says,

Come in — but please treat this garden with care.

And isn’t that true of so many things God entrusts to us?

We can be generous without being careless.

We can welcome without abandoning wisdom.

We can give freely while still protecting what has been placed into our care.

Jesus Himself said:

“Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” — Matthew 10:16

Wisdom and gentleness were never meant to be enemies.

Neither were generosity and stewardship.

So may our hearts remain open, our hands remain generous, and our little gates remain wisely tended.

May we welcome every sincere visitor, share freely what God has given us, and faithfully protect what He has entrusted to our care.

Because one day, what we have tended may be handed to another generation.

Perhaps our children will walk through the garden.

Perhaps our grandchildren will tend some of its flowers.

Perhaps someone we will never meet will sit quietly beneath one of its trees and find encouragement there.

We may never know.

Our responsibility is simply to remain faithful gardeners of whatever little corner God has placed into our hands.

To plant.

To water.

To prune.

To protect.

To share.

And always to remember whose garden it really is.

For generosity and good stewardship are not opposites.

They grow together in the same garden.

♥

Jesus & Mimi