He walks with me

by Randy Kiel | September 20, 2024

Someone recently asked me what I do when I feel lonely.

I had to think a minute. Then I reflected to myself with a silent pause, “That’s a really good question.”

I answered him, out loud this time, with the easiest yet most honest answer I could find, “Just give me my shovel, let me get to my garden and I’ll feel better.”

For those who know me well, they know that I am a suppressed agrarian. I missed my chance to be a farmer when, as a kid, I had to hold my hand over my mouth and nose in the milking barn as not to embarrass myself from gagging. My uncle got the picture, Randy was not going to become a farmer.

So, these days I resort to the enjoyment of nature, yardwork and gardening, especially digging, to tend to my soul.

I continue to learn that a garden is a special place, yet quite difficult to manage. One must dig it, plant it, weed it, and water it before he can ever harvest it.

For me, a garden creates a place of solace. In order to get to this place of peace though, all the prior work must be done.

But that’s not to say that there aren’t mishaps along the way−such as unwanted critters or derechos. While there are many things that can damage a garden, it is neglect by the gardener himself that can pose the most risk for the success and beauty of the garden.

So as to make sure all things are in order in my garden, I have a bench. My bench is a place to sit, watch over, ponder, pray and most often simply wonder about how my garden is doing. I wonder about how special gardens must be to God.

I often wonder if the joy and solace I feel may be an emotional glimpse of what God felt when he created the Garden of Eden. I can almost hear him say, “ahh” as he sat on his bench to look at his garden.

The Bible tells us how God’s gardens were marred by humanity. Eden was marred by man’s free will to be disobedient.

Gethsemane was Jesus’ retreat. It is where Jesus prayed, suffered and finally, was betrayed.

Golgotha became a garden known for death, but it also gave us the resurrection.

Finally, the Garden of God, in Revelation, gives us the picture of God’s paradise that will never be marred by mankind.

At different points in life, we will experience these first three gardens, perhaps many times over, and hopefully we will eventually attain entrance into the last garden−the garden of paradise.

Whichever garden you may presently be in, let’s remember the words from the well-known hymn, “In The Garden”:

“I come to the garden alone…and he walks with me, and he talks with me. He tells me I am his own…”

Jesus will always be walking beside us. Let’s ask ourselves, who has always been with me? It’s not our parents, siblings or friends who will be with us forever. Only Jesus says, “I will always be with you.”

If Jesus was not walking with us, we would have loneliness at a far deeper level than we have ever known. As believers, we do not know the full depravity of loneliness. Most likely, we have experienced psychological loneliness in many deep ways but not in a spiritual form of depravity.

Psychological loneliness is different than spiritual loneliness. It is a form of disconnection that the presence of another cannot resolve. It lies within the emotions of different points in our lives. These thoughts and feelings sound like, “if I disappear tomorrow, no one will even notice.” Or “I have to shoulder all of life’s burdens by myself.”

According to our Surgeon General, “Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death.”

Loneliness is not a topic that should be minimized by anyone. It is at the bare minimum a significant matter and at times, it can even be a matter of life and death. Yet, we are thankful that as Christians, no matter the amount of loneliness we feel, we never stand in total depravity because Christ is always walking along side of us, regardless of our awareness of him.

So, for these very reasons, many days I need to grab my shovel and go to my garden to sit, ponder, pray and wander, back to the words of that old hymn:

“And He walks with me,
And He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.”

May we ask ourselves, what do I do when I feel lonely? Where is my solace? In what do I find joy? May Jesus walk with us in these answers. May we never know the depravity of isolation, separation, and loneliness from our Creator and Savior.