Wednesday, August 23, 2006

In the Garden

Aleene and I walk every morning...four blocks to George Fox, two blocks to the track, four laps around the track and home (by way of Coffee Cottage.) On campus, we walk through the Quad...every campus has a quadrangel of some description. At Fox, the clock tower is in the middle...three verticle slabs with a cross inbetween two of the slabs...then the carrilon ringing Westminster chimes from seven a. to ten p. each day.

In the shaddow of the clock is a very discreet rose garden, perhaps 40x40 feet laid out symetrically with eight segments...three deep (I will do a picture some time.) The garden is a memorial to the wife of a Fox alum. In the garden are seats.

Today, I walked while Aleene kept the kids...Amy has school meetings today. We have passed the rose garden every day, but never went inside. Today, being alone, I was overly curious to stand in the midst of the beautiful flowers...each one marked with the name...very nicely done.

While I read some of the roses the words of In the Garden filled my mind, you know the part, "I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses..." It was over powering.

Mind you, this is rose country. Portland is the Rose City and it has its famous rose garden and all sorts of gardens...but here in little Newberg, on GFU campus, they have a delightful spot to stop and bask in the glory of God's creation and let the sun and the smells and the air fill you up.

I was so over powered, that when I got to the track I ran four laps rather than walk them...all the time with the words of the hymn ringing in my head. "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." And you know, I can recite all the verses...at least three of them, and each was in tune with the environment this morning.

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