THE GARDEN OF LOVE
Live now, believe me, wait not till tomorrow;
Gather the roses of life today.
PIERRE DE ROSNARD
Before I met my husband, John, every attempt I'd made
to find and keep love had led to disappointment and heartbreak.
John knew this, and so when he proposed to me, he
vowed, "Your life with me will be a bed of roses!"
"I was deeply touched by John's sentiment, especially
since I knew he would do everything he could to make good on his
promise. But of course, hardships come in life no matter how wonderfully
our spouses treat us. And by the time our tenth anniversary rolled
around, we'd experienced our share of stress and difficulty. It
had been the hardest year we'd encountered together so far. What
if John actually forgot our anniversary? After all, I'd been disappointed
by men so many times before.
I needn't have worried. John took me to a beautiful
restaurant where he'd reserved a table with a lovely view. After
a delicious, romantic meal by candlelight, we returned home and
prepared for bed. In our bathroom, I brushed my hair a long time
and applied some of John's favorite perfume.
When I came back into the bedroom, I noticed John
was smiling like an excited little boy. I couldn't imagine what
he'd been up to. Then suddenly he folded the covers back, and I
gasped with delight and surprise. The entire bed was covered in
rose petals, their fragrance filling the room.
"John, how did you do this? Where did you get all
these roses?"
"Well", he said with a big grin, "I called the florist
and ordered pale pink Oceana roses like the ones you carried in
your bouquet when we married. I requested that the blossoms be full
and that the roses not be arranged. Then I spent hours gently pulling
the petals apart."
I was so overwhelmed by his gesture that my eyes spilled
over with tears.
As John kissed them away, he gently held me and whispered,
"Didn't I promise you a bed of roses when I proposed?"
"Yes, you did! But I never..."
That evening John and I celebrated our anniversary
in a garden of love - and there where no thorns. I felt my wounded
heart let go of old pains and lingering doubts. In their place,
a healing peace engulfed me, and I fully understood the words from
1 John 4:18 (NASB) for the first time: "Perfect loves drives out
fear."
ANN PLATZ
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