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IN THE GARDEN
(Note: we had
permission to print the text during Lent but have had to remove
the text after Lent. Refer to your hymnal for the text.)
You will not find
my favorite hymn in a Lutheran hymnal. It is a favorite for two
reasons. It is the song my mother sang, always slightly off-key,
as she rocked my younger siblings and probably me, too. And the
message, whether sung by my mother or the congregation, is always
the same: “I am his own.”
There is a saying
that good parents raise their children to know right from wrong,
but forgive them and continue to love and support them if they do
wrong. When I was a child, this hymn reminded me that mine were
good parents. Now, it reminds me that our heavenly Father is also
a good parent. He tells us how he wants us to act, but he forgives
us when we fail, and he always supports us.
Is the garden an
ordinary one? The Garden of Eden? Or a heavenly garden? It doesn’t
matter. The message is that God loves us, no matter what, and that
Christ died to keep it that way.
Lord, continue to
remind us, as we see the marvels of this worldly garden, that we
are your own.
Jolene Dougherty
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