I’ve heard it said that “prayer began in a garden” (meaning the Garden of Eden), but I don’t think that’s true. In the simplest sense of the word, prayer is people communicating TO God. In Eden, there was two-way communication between God and people, what would be better termed “communion”. Prayer began when face-to-face communion ended, as Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. Since that time, man has done a lot of praying.
As the Bible records it, prayer took place in many places: in open fields, in the wilderness, under the stars, in tents, under trees, from the belly of a big fish, in temples and in gardens. It would be hard to contend that one place was better than another (more acceptable to God, that is) as a place of prayer. However, if Jesus preferred certain types of places to pray while He walked the earth, it can be inferred from scripture that it was mountaintops when in the country and a garden when in the city. Repeatedly the Gospels tell of Him rising early, going to lonely places and mountain tops to pray. In the city (Jerusalem), he apparently had His prayer and fellowship hang-out as well; just outside Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley, at the base of the Mount of Olives in a garden called Gethsemane. How do we know He frequented this place? John tells us that is how Judas knew where to lead the guards to arrest Jesus. (John 18:1)
The journey to this garden was not insignificant, either. It is likely that grapes were grown on the hillsides of Jerusalem, leading down to the Kidron Valley. When Jesus left the upper room with His disciples, they travelled this way to reach the Mount of Olives Along the way, Jesus shared the illustration of Him being the vine and His disciples the branches, with the vineyards serving as a visual aid.
As they arrive to the garden, He implores His disciples to pray, and H goes further in to His own place of prayer. It is here in this garden that He prayed more intently than at any other recorded incident. It is here that He “sweat drops of blood”, travailing in prayer for Himself, for you and for me. As capillaries burst in His agony, He even prayed that His Father might “let this cup pass Him by”. And it is here, in prayer that He resolved “not My will but Thine be done!” In a certain sense, salvation, reconnection with God, was secured for us in a garden. The first Adam forfeited his and our communion with God through his free will in a garden. Jesus – the second Adam – exercised His free will in a garden to reestablish our communion with God.
I am certainly not trying to contend that gardens are the most spiritual places for Christ-followers (Christians) to pray. It can be, however, that a garden setting makes it easier for us to connect with God in prayer. I think that being surrounded by the beauty of creation elicits a sense of wonder, of serenity and peace; just like I experienced years ago in a piece of virgin forest. The wonder helps us to live in the moment and not be so consumed by our preoccupations.
I created a new area in my garden this year. It is next to a small waterfall, overlooking a little pond, and surrounded by roses, lilies and fragrant herbs. The sitting area is constructed with recycled paving stones. In the middle of it, I made a red heart pattern, finishing it just in time for Mother’s Day, when I presented it to my wife. That little garden spot is where she now goes most mornings to start her day in prayer. The beauty, the peaceful sound of the water and the fragrance of the flowers helps her to enter into the moment and connect with God before she goes to work and spends another day pouring into the lives of people nearing the end of their journey in this life. When I see her there in the morning, I smile, and am glad to have made a place – a garden – where she can pray and experience a little bit of the communion we were intended for when first placed in Eden,
