Do You Have Garden Friends?
by Kirk Militzer
Garden friends...even Jesus had 'em.
Who are your garden friends?
The term garden friends comes from Jesus. Of the 12 disciples, Jesus invited Peter, James, and John into the Garden of Gethsamane as he sweat great drops of blood.
You probably have heard a sermon or two of what that meant physically for Jesus -the anguish, the heartache, the turmoil that was going on in his soul. And these three guys had a front row seat to it. O.k. O.k they fell asleep, but still...they made the cut!
I don't know who told me of the term garden friends, but I have adopted it into my soul. I have 8 garden friends who pray for me, love me, and have the guts to ask me hard questions. Including permission to answer this question, "what do you wanna say, that you should say, but don't know if you should say it, but you gotta say it, so say it" kind-of-stuff.
Now before you blow this off and think this is just another kind of wordsmithing for accountability partners. Nope. Keep reading.
It is deeper than that. The DNA of it is really support. My shoulder is next to yours. I really love you. I love you even when you are a butthead. I love you enough to remind you of your identity as a son of God Almighty.
Instead of talking with them and dreading the question, "How are you doing? I hear instead, "How can I pray for you?"
That is what Jesus asked his garden friends to do for Him. That is good enough for me.
So, Who are your garden friends?
