My Garden Sanctuary

I love to sit in my “sanctuary” – my front patio filled with comfy chairs, flowers and plants that I’ve miraculously not killed, and my wonderful water fountain. It all reminds me of the English countryside and it’s were I go to escape as often as I can.

There is a huge bougainvilleavillea plant along the side of my front yard that I can see when I sit in one of the chairs out here. I sit here and listen to the chickadees and sparrows who sit in the bougainvilleavillea like it’s some kind of crazy choir loft. They sing and chatter and I smile at how serious they all sound.

Once in a while, they’ll forget I’m sitting here and they‘ll dive bomb to the bird feeder hanging near my fountain. They’ll eat a little, pause, look at me and cock their little heads as if to say “oh shoot! I’m sitting here all exposed and that big, smiling red headed thing is going to eat me!” And then they fly off, leaving a trail of birdseed all over my plants and patio.

I think it’s hilarious and I laugh out loud at them. It’s so amazing to watch these little creatures God has created and thinks so highly of that he talks about how much he cares for them in the Bible. I watch them, they watch me. We share this patch of God’s earth and I’m thankful.

I’m thankful that God said he cares for me even more than the sparrows. I’m thankful that I have some dirt I can grow things in, a roof over my head and friends and a family that loves me. I’m thankful that, even when I get so caught up in the day to day grind that my focus slips, God loves me. He provides all kinds of flowers and birds and beauty that he carefully hand crafted for me to enjoy way before I was born. He reminds me to slow down and take it all in. And I’m most thankful that He sent his Son to take my place so that I would someday be able to sit in His Holy Sanctuary and enjoy the indescribable beauty of Heaven!

I’m not nearly as adorable, or industrious as my little bird friends. I often get so focused on just getting through each day that I can be oblivious to God’s handiwork all around me. Sometimes I forget that I’m not in this alone and I don’t reach out to others for support when I need it. But then I hear the glorious bird choir in my bougainvillea plant and I’m reminded that life is meant to be lived and enjoyed together – with God, friends and family and my wonderful feathered friends chirping away around me! I can’t imagine my life without any of these things… it would be so lonely and quiet here in my “sanctuary” without them!

But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

– Matthew 10:29-31