garden place made for one ...

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse.
Song of Solomon 5:1

The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it with His precious blood, and He enters it and claims it as His own. A garden implies separation. It is not the open common; it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would that we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, "Well, there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that," thus getting as near to the world as possible. Grace is at a low ebb in that soul which can even raise the question of how far it may go in worldly conformity.

A garden is a place of beauty, it far surpasses the wild uncultivated lands. The genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in his life than the best moralist, because Christ's garden ought to produce the best flowers in all the world. Even the best is poor compared with Christ's deservings; let us not put Him off with withering and dwarf plants. The rarest, richest, choicest lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place which Jesus calls His own.

The garden is a place of growth. The saints are not to remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the Husbandman, and the Holy Spirit the dew from above.

A garden is a place of retirement. So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us reserve our souls as a place in which He can manifest Himself, as He doth not unto the world. O that Christians were more retired, that they kept their hearts more closely shut up for Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with much serving, so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary had, and do not sit at His feet as we should. The Lord grant the sweet showers of His grace to water His garden this day. ~Charles Spurgeon

Dearest Husbandman,
Just the other night I cried out to You. I was going on about how marriage is the recreation of the first Garden You created. Oh to be the couple who strive to commune with You in the cool of the evening unafraid of our nakedness. Oh to be the couple unafraid to learn from You and to be taught by You. Oh to be a couple beautiful, willing to grow, and a safe place of retirement!

Tears where because marriage is a distant remote island floating off the horizon. Oh, how You delight to prove me wrong and I am so delighted to be wrong. I can be a garden of beauty in all my aloneness. Yes, You want marriage to be a new garden but it isn't only for couples! You want me. You desire me to be a beautiful garden in full bloom, willing for growth, and a safe place! Thank You for thinking so highly of a single little girl who desires to love more fully. Thank You for Loving me like no other and thank you for taking my rather small love but it is all of my love =)
~ always your little garden

Spurgeon : developing thy graces