In The Garden

I don't know where I got it in my head that growing roses was difficult.  Maybe it's because there are Rose Societies and other Rose organizations and that's given me the mistaken impression that rose growing is only for the erudite.  Erudite, I am not!  Anyway, a couple of years ago, we purchased 3 rose bushes - a yellow one, a pink one, and a white one.  We planted them in the flower bed in the back yard in direct sunlight and do essentially nothing to them other than fertilize them and prune them once a year.  They respond by giving us loads of beautiful flowers that we cut from time to time and place in a vase to brighten the window sill in the kitchen or the table.

The First Yellow Rose of 2015

It was a Saturday morning and Tricia and Benjamin were in Houston visiting Tricia's mom.  I woke up a little later than usual and walked around outside alone. There was a heavy dew on the ground and as I walked through the backyard in fashionable style (crocs with socks), the dew soaked my feet. But then something caught my eye.  Little droplets of dew dotted the leaves of the roses, put there by the hand of God.

...While the dew was still on the roses...

It reminded me of the old hymn we sing in church written by Charles Miles in 1913.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There is beauty to behold right outside your back door when you take the time to observe.

Too many times I don't.

And as the song says, if you take time to listen, He'll speak to you.  He'll walk with you and He'll talk with you and He'll tell you, you are His own...