Hennie Symington

At the beginning of this year we want to share some thoughts on spiritual gardens en growth. In Japan where I have the privilege of residing for a few years, gardens are the oasis and the breath of life for over 40 million people. Each season brings new joy and beauty to savour. Yet, we as believers know that gardens are not forever and that God’s garden inside us is the garden we should cherish and preserve. May you on your journey this year breathe in the breath of faith and experience new life and growth.

My God, early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee. In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is … Psalm 63:1

Today as you gird yourself once again for the coming year, you are invited to join me on a different kind of journey – not one of your overseas journeys or a bus tour to the seaside – but a journey that will take you to the furthest regions of the soul where all your secret longings and desires have gathered like dust in the attic. You don’t have to go anywhere; all you need to undertake this journey is to find yourself a quiet place while keeping perfectly still.

It is a journey to the deepest, most remote places of your heart and soul which have become hardened to the hardship of others. It is a walk through barren deserts where you’ve left behind the truth as excess baggage. It is an expedition to the deepest jungles of your soul where belief has been strangled by the lush undergrowth which keeps you from grasping the simplicity of God’s message. Ultimately it is a journey to remote islands where you have lost the way to your own heart.

God invites you at the very beginning of the new year to take a route less travelled, and perhaps to revisit the places of the heart where you were the closest to your creator. Or even those places where you left your faith by the wayside choosing to make your way through rocky patches and the up hills on you own.

The good news is that you were never alone. Your companion who will “neither slumber nor sleep”, was right there beside you, guiding you on your way. May you rediscover anew the true joy of journeying with God.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, you are inviting me to journey with you. Set my feet on the path of righteousness so that I can follow you. Prepare my hands to do deeds of mercy so that I can serve you with gladness. Amen