The Garden (Part 1)

A long time ago there was a King who planted a garden.  He set it apart from all the other growing things, and He protected it from the nasty rodents and bugs and birds that might try and hurt His flowers.  He loved His garden so much that He brought it to life, and gave each flower a name.  There were big, bright lilies, ruffly pink roses, tall sunflowers, tiny violets, sturdy daffodils, and many, many other flowers.  He loved all of them.  Every day the King would walk in the garden, and the flowers would come to Him and get some water and some sunshine.  He knew how much each flower needed.  The tall sunflowers needed lots of sunshine, but the tiny violets only needed a little.  The big, bright lilies needed less water than the sturdy daffodils, and sometimes the ruffly roses needed a good clipping so they could bloom better.  The King knew what each flower needed.

It took practice to learn how to go to the King when the flowers needed some water or some sunshine or a good clipping.  Sometimes the tiny violets were afraid to leave their shady spot when the King came to walk in the garden.  So the big, bright lilies would teach the violets how to go to Him, and the violets would learn.  Soon they would hop right up to His feet without any fear.  Sometimes the ruffly roses wanted to keep their dead branches instead of letting the King clip them away.  So the big, bright lilies would teach the roses that the King knew how to take good care of them.  Soon the ruffly roses came right up to His scissors and let Him clip away the dead branches without even trembling.  This made the King very happy.  It always made the King happy to give His flowers what they needed.  He put the lilies in charge of teaching the other flowers how to come and get good things from Him.

One day a big, ugly hawk swooped down over the garden.  He perched on a bush and said to the flowers, "You silly flowers!  The King should not be trusted!  Maybe one day He will give you too much water, or too much sunshine!  You don't know how much you need, so how can you tell if He gives you too much?  Maybe one day He won't come to the garden, and you won't get enough water and sunshine!  You don't know how much you need, so how can you tell if He doesn't give you enough?  He is not safe, I tell you!  And you roses--"  And the roses trembled so that their leaves rustled, "What if He comes with His scissors and clips you right down to the root, and you never bloom again!  He is not safe, I tell you!"

Then the big, ugly hawk flew away.

The flowers looked at each other with trembly petals.  What if the big, ugly hawk was right?

The King arrived later for His walk in the garden, and all the fearful flowers peered at Him from behind their leaves, not sure if they should come out of hiding.  He knelt down and said, "Aren't you coming out, little ones?  I have good things for you!"