Bloom in God’s garden

[1]

Francis Gonsalves [1]

Bloom where you are planted” were the words on a poster, under a garden full of flowers, in my hostel room during my college days. My witty roommate Ashok stuck a paper on the poster, which read: “Survive where you are stuck!”
Do you see life merely as a cesspool of survival or as a garden with pregnant possibilities for growth and blossoming?

The Bible pictures life as a garden from its very first pages to its last. The Garden of Eden is more than a place; it is a way of life and a state of the soul. God “planted the Garden of Eden” (Genesis 2:8) as gift; and yet human beings must “till it and keep it” (2:15). Thus, although Eden signifies God’s bounty and blessing, it also requires human toiling and tilling. We must work upon the earth to fulfil both, ourselves as well as our environment.
The Book of Revelation describes the goal of life as a celestial garden containing “the spring of the water of life” (21:6) and the “tree of life” (22:14).
The word “paradise” derives from the Persian word for a walled garden. And, prominent among the words that Islam uses for heaven is the Arabic janna which means “garden”. The abode of Lord Vishnu, Vaikunth, is also considered to be a paradisiacal garden.
The Abrahamic religions have a “paradise lost” component in their collective consciousness, sometimes called “planetary sin”. Deep down we sense that due to our greed and selfishness we’ve not only fractured relationships with our sisters and brothers, but have severed our ties with Mother Earth. It is therefore vital that we care for her and restore her pristine beauty.
While a garden symbolises plenitude and prosperity, it can also be the site of anguish and pain, as in two gardens in Jesus’ life: the garden of Gethsemane and that of his resurrection. In the former, Jesus experiences agony, betrayal, abandonment, violence and arrest; in the latter, ecstasy, victory and full blossoming of life. Both gardens complement each other. In the first, Jesus bravely takes a decision to be faithful to God; in the second, God reveals divine faithfulness by raising Jesus to new life.
Life is a God-gifted garden to us, which we must cultivate. Wherever there are shoots of love, unity, service, generosity, justice and peace sprouting up, we must nurture these. But we must weed out all forms of decay, evil, exploitation and injustice.
It’s said: “Life is not a bed of roses.” Even if it were, do roses bloom without thorns? So let’s sow seeds of life and tackle the thorns that come our way. May those we meet today say, “Thanks! You have loved me, I have grown!”