MATTHEW 21:33

“There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it,
dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers
and went into a far country.”

We too have received a garden to cultivate.

It was given to us as a gift at our birth. A sound body and the faculties and powers of our soul. A loving mother and a good father. Many brothers and sisters and good companions. A good home. A good bringing up and instruction in many useful things, both at home and at school.

In the midst of this beautiful garden God planted the tree of life. At our very birth God met us in holy Baptism. Our soul was small, but the triune God nevertheless found room there. In the bright spring morning of our life many a blessed heavenly seed was sown in the little garden of our heart.

Then He set a hedge about it. A remarkable hedge. For many years—how many I do not know, but for many years—nothing could harm the little garden. Not we ourselves; we were still too small. Not any other person, either. No, not even the devil.

We lived a few happy years in our garden. And God garnered fruit there. We prayed our childhood prayers, which made glad the heart of God. And we struggled with our childhood sins. True, we often fell. But when we turned to God and asked His forgiveness, God received again the fruit which He sought. We ourselves received the most. For we received power to uproot many a thorny growth.

But since that time? Since that time many have permitted the weeds to grow again. Thorns and thistles have choked everything that God planted.

However, they are not happy with the garden destroyed. They sit during hours of quietude, longing sorely for the faith and for the garden of their childhood.

O. Hallesby, God’s Word for Today: A Daily Devotional for the Whole Year, translator Clarence J. Carlsen (Augsburg, 1994)
Scripture for opening text taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.