The Secret Garden

“The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul.”

― Saint Thomas More – British Philosopher  

My favorite book from my childhood was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  Frances tells a story of Mary, living in India, whom other children teased as “Mistress Mary, quite contrary.” Mary lost her parents to an epidemic in India and was sent to live with an Uncle in England who ignored her.  An English servant, Martha, encourages a lonely Mary to explore the gardens surrounding Mary’s Uncle’s estate.    In doing so, Mary discovers a “secret garden” that had been locked behind walls attended only by an old gardener.  The garden had been locked and neglected because her Aunt had died in an accident in the garden and Mary’s Uncle could not bear the sight of it.  A robin, in early spring, leads Mary to the buried key to the door of the garden.  At first Mary begins to visit the garden in secret, but soon includes Dickon, Martha’s brother who was a friend to the creatures living on the moor.  As the garden emerges into spring, Mary nurtures the garden and as it grows, Mary also blossoms.  She then began to include in the “secret garden” her crippled angry cousin Colin who she discovers one night crying in another bedroom in the home.  Soon Colin gains his strength in the “secret garden” and learns to walk again bringing joy to his father.  

The “secret garden” which is our soul needs cultivating and love to grow and blossom.    When we become gardeners and give care to the “secret garden” - it is no longer “secret” and brings joy to God and others.