Stroll Down the Garden Path

I was talking to a friend the other day and she made a comment that caught my attention. She was telling me about a pathway her husband built along a flower bed. She said it was made of large stepping stones and he put a lot of work into it to make it pretty. The thing was, it dead-ends at a fence. No gate - just ended at the fence. She called it her ‘garden path to nowhere’. The thing that caught my attention was that as soon as the words were out of her mouth, I got that familiar ‘holy tap on the shoulder’. Yes, Lord, I hear you.

My friends have a lovely home, beautifully landscaped yard and the best view in the neighborhood. Theirs is the only view out here better than ours. Pulling up their long curving driveway you are met by little pockets of creative surprise around each curve. Her husband has, over the years, created an interesting and ever changing delight. They are retired and have both the time and resources to invest in their place. They’ve made a beautiful toxic waste dump. Did your mind just come to a screeching halt reading those words? It’s true, the outward face and appearance of their home is lovely and well cared for. The environment inside the home is a toxic wasteland. Oh, it’s lovely inside, too, but the tension and atmosphere is hostile and destructive. It only takes a moment before you feel it and you tend to stop noticing how pretty it looks; your attention is absorbed by the hostility. Nothing in their relationship can support life, it sucks it right out. Sad, really sad.  

Many people go to a lot of effort to make their faith walk ‘pretty’, too. It looks good on the outside but rings hollow on the inside. All the ‘landscaping’ in the world can’t fill the void when it’s all for show. There is no substitute for a substantial, thriving, growing, evolving relationship with the Lord. You can dress up a weak, hollow one but it is still weak and hollow. You can show up every time the church doors open, financially support every church project, and bring all the potluck casseroles you can make and still be walking out a faith walk to nowhere. Just like my friends garden path, no matter how pretty and nice it looks, its going nowhere…dead-ends at the fence when it’s all for show.

 
We need to stop thinking about how our relationship with the Lord looks to others. That has no bearing on our eternal status. We won’t be asked at the Pearly Gates to provide photos of our spiritual landscaping. It is our internal spiritual condition that matters. If it’s a toxic wasteland, it doesn’t matter how ‘pretty’ it is, it won’t support eternal life. Only our Lord and Savior can do that and His pathway will always lead to something more beautiful than we can imagine.