The Garden of Remembrance

Lessons from the Garden: August Series

There is one garden on our property that is different from all the others. It was created in memory of my dear friend Linda, and over the years it has become a place where remembrance and gratitude meet.

Because I love purple and Linda loved bright oranges, reds, and yellows, I planted those colors as the predominant ones in this garden in honor of our friendship. Every time those blooms brighten the beds, they remind me of the beauty of what we shared.

Linda had been a teacher and loved children, so among the flowers are statues of children that always make me think of her. They are a small reflection of something that mattered deeply to her and of the many young lives she touched through the years.

I first knew Linda through church. Then one day she came to me and said something I have never forgotten: “God told me to do whatever you asked or needed.” From that day forward, we became ministry partners as well as friends. Linda faithfully served alongside me, prayed with me, traveled with me, and shared in the work God had entrusted to us. Some friendships grow gradually, almost unnoticed. Others seem to be marked by God from the beginning. Ours was one of those.

When I walk through Linda’s garden now, I remember much more than the things she loved. I remember the ways her life shaped mine. Linda taught me important spiritual lessons, sometimes through her words and sometimes simply through the way she lived. One lesson I still carry with me was about guarding my thoughts—being careful about what I allowed my mind to dwell upon and recognizing how powerfully our thoughts influence our spiritual and emotional lives. It was wisdom she shared with me years ago, but it continues to bear fruit in my life today.

I also remember her perseverance and tenacity. I saw those qualities many times as we ministered together, but especially during our mission trips to Taiwan. Linda was not someone who gave up easily. When circumstances were difficult, uncomfortable, or required more of her than she expected, she kept going. Watching her taught me something about faithfulness—not the kind that calls attention to itself, but the quiet determination to continue doing what God has placed before you. Those are some of the things I remember when I look at her garden.

Scripture gives us a beautiful picture of the importance of remembering. In Joshua 4, after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, God instructed them to take twelve stones from the river and build a memorial. In the generations to come, when their children asked, “What do these stones mean?” they were to tell them what God had done. The memorial was not intended to keep them living in the past. It was meant to carry the testimony of God’s faithfulness into the future.

I think the people who have shaped our lives can become something like those stones of remembrance. When we remember them, we are not simply remembering that they were here. We remember what God taught us through them, the qualities we witnessed in them, the wisdom they shared, and the ways their lives helped form our own. That is what Linda’s garden has become for me.

Like every garden, it changes with the seasons. Some flowers return year after year. Others spread into places where they were never intentionally planted. Some bloom for only a short time, while others quietly grow stronger with each passing season. Our influence on one another can be much the same. Someone may teach us something years ago that we do not fully understand until much later. A word they spoke may come back to us at exactly the right moment. Their courage may strengthen ours. Their faith may deepen our own. Their perseverance may teach us to keep going when we would rather stop.

Sometimes, without even realizing it, we begin passing those same lessons on to someone else. Perhaps that is one of the most beautiful things about remembrance. Love does not simply end when someone’s earthly life ends. What God planted through that person can continue to grow.

When I walk through Linda’s garden and see the flowers blooming around those little statues of children, I remember my friend. I remember the teacher who loved children, the woman who ministered faithfully beside me, the friend who traveled with me to Taiwan, the woman whose tenacity inspired me, and the spiritual wisdom she planted in my life.

And I am reminded to ask different questions about the people God has given me:

What did their life teach me?

What qualities did I see in them that I want to carry forward?

What truth did God plant in my heart through knowing them?

How can I pass on to others what God taught me through their life?

Perhaps you have someone like that in your own life—someone whose earthly presence is gone, but whose influence is still very much alive.

Remember them with gratitude. Remember what God taught you through them. And carry those lessons forward. That may be one of the loveliest ways we honor those we have loved: by allowing the seeds planted through their lives to continue bearing fruit in ours.

A Prayer of Blessing

May the Lord bring gently to your remembrance those He has used to shape your life. May gratitude rise alongside the memories, and may you recognize the wisdom, faith, courage, and love He planted in you through them.

May those seeds continue to bear fruit in your life, and may what you have received become a blessing you carry into the lives of others.

Above all, may every remembrance remind you of the faithfulness of the God who has walked with you through every season.

Amen.

#LessonsFromTheGarden #GardenOfRemembrance #RememberingWithGratitude #GodsFaithfulness #FaithfulFriendship #SpiritualLegacy #SeedsOfFaith #ChristianEncouragement