The Gardener

Gardeners are a rare breed—diligent, committed, and focused on the harvest to come. They love the process and are in it for the long haul. Everyone likes homegrown produce, but very few people are willing to do the gardener's work.

Audrey does the work, but her love for planting, cultivating, growing, and harvesting doesn't stop there. She is a gardener in the lives of her family and friends. She is willing to put in the work with the promise of a harvest.

If you see someone in a group who might be on the fringe, she will call on God to part the crowd—just as He parted the Red Sea for Moses—so she can plant a garden of love and belonging around that person, ensuring they don't pass through the crowd alone. She is planting seeds of friendship and kindness. There are no marginalized people in her garden.

If you come to our house, you better bring a truck because you will leave with a plant, furniture, clothes, or all the above. If you avoid the major gifts, she will give you a book, snack bag, or a drink. She tends to her friends and cares for their needs. There are no needy people in her garden.

If you win the lottery and call Audrey a friend, you better know she is fiercely loyal. She will stay in your life, in good times and bad, to grow a friendship with roots far below the surface. She is fertilizing, watering, and weeding. There are no forgotten friends in her garden. 

If you see her with me and her boys, you'll know she's one of the most attentive, loving, and patient wives and moms. She is constantly feathering the nest and making it a home. She homeschools because she wants to cultivate the minds and hearts of our boys—to build a trellis of support, pruning their minds, and fertilizing their souls. There are no questions about being loved in her garden. 

If you see her with God, you see someone kind, gentle, and poor in spirit. She has faith that can move mountains. Armed with her faith in Jesus and a water gun, she will storm the gates of hell. One day, she is going home to be with the Lord and is planning to bring a harvest basket full of souls. There are no people who don't hear of Jesus in her garden.

In John 15, Jesus teaches us that he is the vine, and the Father is the gardener. Then he gives us this work: to go and produce fruit that will last. That is Audrey. We are the fortunate few who look through the windows and see her, hands in the dirt, helping life spring from the earth - the garden of her life.

If I could tell you just one thing about Audrey, it would be that she loves to garden.

For Audrey’s 40th birthday.