Within the Weary Garden by Jana Atkinson Morga
“What more could possibly have been done for my vineyard than what I’ve done?” (Isaiah 5:4a)
The One Who Gardens
Isaiah’s vineyard song opens like a love poem sketching a Divine Gardener who sowed, tended, and lovingly watched over a garden. As the words continue, sorrow begins to stain the story, what started in hopeful planting now bears disappointment. Wild sour grapes sprout where sweetness was promised. Though the narrative has edges, the further you walk toward the center, the more you feel a steady pulse of goodness beating at its heart.
In this season of Advent a hush falls over us. We find ourselves the space where hope and heartbreak mingle. In this place, we pause, waiting for restoration. Our hearts ache for a moment when love bears the fruit of justice, when peace finds a foothold in soil. In this time of waiting and reflection may we remember, God does not wait apart from us. Even in the fields of disappointment, in the weariness of our days, the Divine Gardener kneels beside us. God is here, tending gently, pruning with love, grace, and mercy, confident that goodness is going to bloom.
Isaiah’s vineyard reminds us that love doesn’t give up on what it plants. The God of Advent reminds us that we are all so deeply loved. The chains that bind us are no match for the love that sustains us. God’s heart still sings over this vineyard, still waits for us to taste the sweetness of restored creation, and invites us to be co-ministers in this ministry of reconciliation of Heaven and Earth.
In this season of Advent, may we trust that the Gardener’s goodness is not undone by our barrenness. God walks with us, still tends the soil of our souls, and still waits with us for the harvest of joy to come.