The scent of lilacs and narcissus filled the living room. Annie looked at Grandma Leota’s portrait. Her heart had been in her throat as her mother paused to look at it before leaving. “You do have a gift, Annie. Don’t let anyone, including me, tell you otherwise.” Then her mother had looked at the marble-and-brass urn that had contained Grandma Leota’s ashes and was now filled with flowers. “Your grandmother loved lilacs.” Her mother had touched some of the blossoms.
“Yes, she did. She loved daffodils too.”
Eleanor had turned and looked at Annie. She’d smiled, her eyes filling with tears. “And roses.”
Annie had smiled back. Her mother knew. “Those, too.”
Oh, it was a wonderful day, Grandma Leota. And you were with us every moment of it, close to our hearts. You are alive and well and with our Lord.
Everything had been picked up in the living room. The door was locked. Annie went back into the kitchen and through to the back porch. She went outside into the cool evening air. Crickets were chirping and several frogs croaked. They were attracted to one corner of the garden, where she’d made a fountain. She had used half of a wine barrel and a small pump she’d bought from a hardware store on East Fourteenth. She’d tucked in submersible, marginal, and surface water plants. She loved the sound of running water. It was like living water, and the frogs would keep the garden free of bugs.
She walked the path to the victory garden. The moon was out, reflecting light off the white alyssum, the gardenias, the pale blossoms on the fruit trees, the star jasmine and narcissus. The flowers themselves gave light. The darkness was broken by starlight, moonlight, and white flowers, and the air was filled with their sweet fragrance.
Annie remembered the first day she had looked out Grandma Leota’s kitchen window to the garden. It had been unkempt, weed-choked, barren in patches. . . . The trees and bushes had been in dire need of pruning. Grandma had told her what it used to be like, and Annie had imagined it and longed to see it that way again. Under Grandma’s guidance, the work had begun. The soil had been turned, softened, mulched, planted. The trees and bushes had been pruned and cut back. It had been hard work but well worth the aching muscles, broken fingernails, scratches, bruises, and blisters.
Along the way, surprises had cropped up. Bulbs Grandma had planted and forgotten years ago had appeared. Perennials long gone had left their seeds and bloomed again. New life had sprung up everywhere as though God had blessed this little patch of earth.
All day Annie had watched family members, friends, and neighbors wander around the garden, and she kept thinking how they were all like flowers. Some were poppies, blooming bold and brief. Others were like ornamental vines, passionflowers, or trumpets. Still others were shy violets and wallflowers. And all together, what a beautiful world they made. Everyone different, everyone amazing to behold.
Annie was so thankful for having had even a little time with Grandma Leota. She had never really thought about a garden’s significance until she came to know her grandmother. Grandma Leota had told her once that everything important had happened in a garden. . . .
“God created the garden for man and placed him in it. Adam and Eve fell into sin in a garden. Jesus taught in a garden. Our Lord prayed in a garden. He was betrayed in a garden. And He arose in a garden. And someday—” her grandmother’s eyes had shone—“we will all be reunited in the garden.”
Not all, perhaps.
Annie frowned. Corban had waited all day and all evening so he could be alone with her. She knew he was in love with her, and she had tried to dissuade him from saying anything that might later embarrass him. Yet he was persistent, determined. Far more than Sam had been. But then Sam was a Christian. He had been able to understand and accept. If only Corban would come to that saving faith and have the direction, purpose, and joy he yearned to have. Maybe then, life wouldn’t be so difficult for him, so pointless and frustrating.
“I’m in love with you, Annie,” he had said.
“I can’t love you the way you want, Corban.” What else could she say but the truth, even when it hurt him? She could see his frustration and feel his longing, but she was content. She would keep trying to turn his attention to the Lord. That’s all she could do. Even when he tried to talk her out of living alone, or living in the inner city, or living for others rather than herself, she would pray for his salvation. “I’m where I’m supposed to be, Corban. I’m where I want to be. What more could I possibly want than to live in the garden?” Maybe in time he would understand what she meant.
Annie stood on the lawn, inhaling the fragrant evening air and gazing up at the night sky. It was long past midnight, the darkest time—and yet the stars shone brighter now.
This was Your day, Lord. Oh, I know every day is Your day, but this one was extra special, and I thank You for it. You are amazing. Oh, Father, I thought there was no chance of restoration and reconciliation when Grandma Leota passed on. I had so hoped we would have her awhile longer and Mother would have time to make amends. For whatever reason, it wasn’t to be. Oh, Lord, I confess I almost lost hope when Grandma died. I thought whatever plan You’d made for my poor, broken family had somehow been destroyed by Satan. And then You reminded me of the Garden and the serpent and Your promise of a deliverer. And Jesus came. I remembered Noah and his wayward sons and how You told them to spread over the earth and multiply, and, instead, his descendants gathered together and built the Tower of Babel in rebellion against You. You went right ahead and fulfilled Your plan when You confounded their language and scattered them over the face of the earth. Man strives to do things his own way, and yet, it is always Your will that prevails.
Annie raised her hands in exaltation to the God of heaven and earth.
Oh, Lord, my God, I delight in You! She laughed aloud, so happy she felt her heart would burst with joy. Oh, Lord, Lord, how majestic You are. Only Your plan will come to completion. Evil may seem to reign. Wars may come, and violence may spread over the earth, and man may take life itself into his own hands, but You prevail. You always have. You always will. I can rest in that knowledge. I can cling to Your promises and listen to Your voice, and walk in Your ways. I can trust You whatever the world may say or do. Someday my time will come, and however it does, I know You will not lose me. You will bring me safely home.
A soft breeze caressed her face, and she inhaled the incense of the garden. Sighing, she lowered her arms and smiled. She went back into the house. Morning would be here soon.
And there was work to do.
Discussion Questions
Dear Reader,
You have just finished the poignant story of Leota’s Garden by Francine Rivers. As always, Francine desires for you, the reader, to go to God’s Word to discover His principles for living. The following questions are merely a portal to exploring all God has for you.
Leota was a virtuous woman with godly intentions. However, she did not live in a perfect world with a perfect family and ideal circumstances. Rather, Leota and her family represent the typical dysfunctional family. Leota tried to keep the peace out of respect for her husband and her elders. Her silence cost her!
Like Leota, we live in an imperfect world. We each find elements of dysfunction in our own families. God has called us not to “keep the peace,” but to be peacemakers. Making peace always means confronting the truth—confronting the truth in love and kindness.
May God bless you and challenge you to be a peacemaker.
Peggy Lynch
Read Proverbs 31:10-31. Compare Leota to the woman described in this passage. In what ways is she like this woman? How is she different?
Compare Grandma Helene, Nora, and Annie to the woman described in Proverbs 31. How does each of them fall short or measure up?
How do you compare to the woman, husband, and/or children described in Proverbs 31?
Consider the instructions given in Ephesians 6:1-4, as well as the husband described in Proverbs 31. Discuss Bernard’s role in the lives of his chi
ldren. How did he treat their mother? How did he add to their alienation? In what ways did he contribute to the wedge created by his parents? How did he avoid the truth? How is Nora’s husband, Fred, different?
Compare Leota and Nora as mothers. In what ways were their parenting styles different? In what ways were they the same? How do you account for the differences?
Compare Nora and Annie as children. Discuss their motivations. What contributed to their differences? In what ways, if any, were they alike?
What have your parents passed on to you? In what ways have they shaped who and how you are? What unfinished business is there in your family?
Discuss Corban and Sam in light of 2 Timothy 2:22-25. What had Sam learned, and at what cost? In what ways did he demonstrate that God had changed his heart? What does Corban learn about wrong companionship? What does he discover about himself?
Contrast Susan and Ruth. Both young women are modern; however, they choose to run in different directions. How does each of them deal with truth? How do friends influence them?
What kinds of relationships do you pursue? How do you handle truth? How well do you know yourself? Explain. What changes does God need to make in your heart?
Read Ephesians 4:15, 25-27, 32 and James 5:16. Keeping these passages in mind, what lies does Leota harbor? What lies does Nora harbor? What lies do you harbor?
When Leota confesses and speaks the truth in love, as Ephesians 4 exhorts us to do, what happens? Why do you think the author portrayed Leota’s granddaughter as the one chosen by God to hear?
Leota found solace in the garden she planted and maintained, yet she was lonely and estranged from her family. As she learns to speak the truth in love, she finds solace watching her garden develop into a gathering place for family and friends. She is no longer lonely, and the longing of her heart for her children begins to be fulfilled. What does your heart long for? What truth might you need to speak of in order to experience God’s fullest blessings? Speak the truth to God, your heavenly Father. Speak the truth to those who need to hear it from you. Do it today! Then trust God to bless your obedience in His time and in His way.
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author Francine Rivers began her literary career at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in English and journalism. From 1976 to 1985, she had a successful writing career in the general market, and her books were highly acclaimed by readers and reviewers. Although raised in a religious home, Francine did not truly encounter Christ until later in life, when she was already a wife, a mother of three, and an established romance novelist.
Shortly after becoming a born-again Christian in 1986, Francine wrote Redeeming Love as her statement of faith. First published by Bantam Books, and then rereleased by Multnomah Publishers in the mid-1990s, this retelling of the biblical story of Gomer and Hosea, set during the time of the California Gold Rush, is now considered by many to be a classic work of Christian fiction. Redeeming Love continues to be one of CBA’s top-selling titles, and it has held a spot on the Christian bestseller list for nearly a decade.
Since Redeeming Love, Francine has published numerous novels with Christian themes—all bestsellers—and she has continued to win both industry acclaim and reader loyalty around the globe. Her Christian novels have been awarded or nominated for numerous honors, including the RITA Award, the Christy Award, the ECPA Gold Medallion, and the Holt Medallion in Honor of Outstanding Literary Talent. In 1997, after winning her third RITA Award for inspirational fiction, Francine was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. Francine’s novels have been translated into more than twenty different languages, and she enjoys bestseller status in many countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, and South Africa.
Francine and her husband, Rick, live in northern California and enjoy time spent with their three grown children and taking every opportunity to spoil their grandchildren. Francine uses her writing to draw closer to the Lord, and she desires that through her work she might worship and praise Jesus for all He has done and is doing in her life.
Visit her website at www.francinerivers.com.
Francine Rivers, Leota's Garden
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