In the Garden?<\/strong>
<\/span>
It is hard to make out all that has happened. Too much partying. Life\u2019s a blur. All is a blur. Our minds are clouded. Where are we?<\/p>\nAhead, we see a shape. \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d<\/p>\n
No answer. Can\u2019t be the creature \u2014 for he has an answer for everything!<\/p>\n
We slowly approach. If our eyes don\u2019t deceive us, it looks like a tree.<\/p>\n
Is it a tree?<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
Is this tree, we now see, in the Garden? Or, is this the one on the Hill?<\/p>\n
The calf only stares; the creature has disappeared.<\/p>\n
There is no blood. There is no fruit.<\/p>\n
Only a dead and barren \u2014 lifeless \u2014 tree in the Wilderness.<\/p>\n
With great fear we look around us. We are truly alone. No fantasies, no gold, no friends, no hope.
It\u2019s just us \u2026 and a mirror.<\/p>\n
A mirror.<\/p>\n
We, the tree.<\/p>\n
(20 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nAgain on the Hill \u2026<\/strong>
<\/span>
The longer we stay here, the less we ask. The longer we stay here, the less we ask. The longer we stay here, the less we ask.<\/p>\nThe longer we stay here, the more we find ourselves looking into the eyes of our beloved, the man on the Tree. Our souls seem wedded to his \u2014 and our bodies begin to obey our souls, his.<\/p>\n
The question is: How is it that one is filled by emptying? How is it that one is happy yet crying? How is it that one is life-giving while dying?<\/p>\n
The longer we stay here \u2026<\/p>\n
The doubts. \u201cIf you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross and save yourself,\u201d a voice cries.<\/p>\n
Our eyes must ask the question \u2026 for he again, with love, dies.<\/p>\n
(21 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nAgain on the Hill \u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIt seems that there are less people on the Hill today. More in the Garden.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve stopped looking at the Tree on the Hill.<\/p>\n
Everyone is happy, laughing, dancing in the Garden. There rings shouts of joy! In the Garden, where all is knowledge, there are no questions. The Tree is not stained with blood. There is life in the Garden.<\/p>\n
It is familiar.<\/p>\n
We can never get used to this Hill. It is too hard a thing for us. We were created to be in the Garden.<\/p>\n
What awaits us here? Were we created to die?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
(22 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nIn the Garden \u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nFriends. Ah, glorious friends! How we\u2019ve missed you! The betrayals are forgotten. Let us eat, drink, and be merry!<\/p>\n
In the Garden are many whom we know. They have welcomed us back to paradise with open arms, a warm embrace, and sweet caresses.<\/p>\n
Lust tastes good as we feast upon the Tree. You\u2019d think gluttony was our end! Alas, all the fruit is good and plenteous. Thanks be to God!<\/p>\n
(\u201cNo.\u201d)<\/p>\n
For a moment, we thought we heard \u2026 a still small voice?<\/p>\n
Must be the wine.<\/p>\n
The homecoming is so overpowering that tomorrow we plan to eat of sloth.<\/p>\n
(23 of 33) \u2026<\/p>\n
Again in the Garden \u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nAnger. Sometimes (do our eyes deceive us?) we seem to partake of anger by mistake. It often looks just like pride.<\/p>\n
Since pride, we\u2019re told, is the omnipotent remedy for all our ills \u2014 we naturally reach for it daily.
Yet anger is found within.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not anger. You are a god. You are in control. The world can be yours. Taste and see \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
The creature. We no longer see him. He just seems to accompany our thoughts, doubts, and fears.<\/p>\n
For this we are thankful. Because on the Hill there\u2019s no answers \u2026 only questions. Mystery. Frustrating.<\/p>\n
[Chomp!]<\/p>\n
Anger? Pride? We\u2019ve eaten too much sloth to care.<\/p>\n
(24 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nIn the Wilderness \u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nDoubts. Funny. On the Hill our doubts are brought on by questions. In the Garden, they are due to answers received.<\/p>\n
Whom to trust?<\/p>\n
The more friends we found in the Garden, the lonelier we became. They became, like the fruit, too familiar. No mystery.<\/p>\n
For the moment, we are content in the Wilderness. Someone holds our hand. We dare not look. Afraid.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll will be well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTrust me.\u201d<\/p>\n
We do not look. Mystery. For now, it is good.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who spoke?<\/p>\n
\u2026 we are on the Hill.<\/p>\n
(25 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nAgain in the Wilderness \u2026<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nOur time on the Hill was very brief. We did not want to be there. But, because we trusted the voice in the Wilderness, there we were. But we did not want to be there.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d rather be alone. No one drove us into the Wilderness. We were not tempted. We made the decision all on our own. We are not headed back to the Garden. We just want to be alone.<\/p>\n
Someone holds our hand. It is familiar \u2026 it is okay.<\/p>\n
(26 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nIn the Wilderness?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe Creature. What would we do? Where would we be without him? He is so full of encouragement and knowledge.<\/p>\n
We may be moving soon \u2026 to the Garden. The creature tells us that the Wilderness is actually part of the Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless you want to die, like him, you must flee the Wilderness. You belong in the Garden. You were created for the Garden, and the Garden for you. Yours is not to die, but to live! How can you live without the plenteous fruit of the Garden?\u201d<\/p>\n
We want so badly to trust.<\/p>\n
Doubt. Friends. Betrayal. Sin?<\/p>\n
We remember the past. Remorse.<\/p>\n
(27 of 33) \u2026<\/em><\/p>\nOn the Hill \u2026<\/strong>
<\/span>
An answer: \u201cThe key is not in the forgetting but in the forgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cThis is too hard a thing for me, Lord. In the Garden, when I forget, I am able to live! Here, when I try to forgive, it seems that a part of me dies!\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
Patience. Long-Suffering. Peace. These live \u2026<\/p>\n
It seems that, on the Hill, with death there is new life.<\/p>\n
The more we give, the more we gain. Forgiving is for getting.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meditations are intended to be read sequentially, from 1 to 33. Part OnePart TwoPart Three (19 of 33) \u2026 In the Garden?It is hard to make out all that has happened. Too much partying. Life\u2019s a blur. All is a blur. Our minds are clouded. Where are we? Ahead, we see a shape. \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1691,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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