It's the time of year that many of us have been waiting for—time to get out into the garden! After looking through seed catalogs during the cold winter months, we can finally get our hands in the ground again, plant the seeds and seedlings, care for them as they grow to maturity, and watch as they bear flowers and fruit for our enjoyment.

Gardens can be quite beautiful, like we found in the Cypress Gardens of Florida (pictured on cover). Even a well-kept vegetable garden is a pleasant sight, with plants climbing over the poles and stalks laden with fresh produce. From experience I know that any type of garden requires considerable time and labor if it is going to be pro-ductive. Though the only garden I keep now is a rose garden, it too requires careful pruning and continual care to keep out weeds, insects, and diseases, while providing the necessary nutrients and moisture for the growth and development of those healthy buds that burst into gorgeous blooms with an array of shapes, colors and fragrances.

Gardens are to be enjoyed. Though a lot of work, they also provide relaxation and satisfaction. From the beginning of time it has been God's purpose to have a garden in this world for His pleasure. When we look at the gardens in the Scriptures, we find that they proclaim the message of God's dealings with man to transform him from a sinful weed to a living, fruitful tree planted in His garden for His delight.

As we consider the Garden of Eden, we see it as a place of great beauty, yet tragic defeat—the birthplace of sin.

In the Garden of Gethsemane we see the Saviour's deep agony in anticipation of His sufferings for sin, and the saddest of all betrayals ever to be committed by man.

Then in the Garden of the Sepulchre, we find a place of death, sorrow, and weeping transformed into a place of mighty victory and triumph in which are founded all the hopes of mankind to live forever in the Garden of God.

Once a person has been planted by salvation in the Garden of the Lord, we find in Song of Solomon 4:12-15 some principles of gardening that must be applied if we are to grow to maturity for His pleasure. First, the garden is enclosed, thereby preserved from evil and set apart from the world for the Lord. Second, it is watered, finding its springs and nourishment in God's Word as revealed by the Spirit. Third, the garden is fruitful, bearing "pleasant fruits," which are the excellencies of Christ produced in us—the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23). Fourth, it is fragrant because of the sweet savor of worship that ascends from hearts affectionately occupied with Christ. Finally, the garden is a refreshment to others, a channel by which the "rivers of living water" flow with the message of the gospel which is made known in the study of the gardens found throughout the Scriptures.