The God of the Garden Quotes

“Ah, the suburbs: that slice of America where we name subdivisions after the trees we've cut down to build them, where we've zoned out any hope of a bookstore or a restaurant within walking distance, where we slave over lawns that we seldom use, where our front porches are too shallow for a porch swing, where we walk the dogs but can't walk to lunch, where we don't really get to know the neighbors because nobody's planning to stick around for more than a few years, where the dominant feature of every house is the two-car garage door, where getting to know people is tougher than it needs to be because there's no village pub, no local bakery, no farmer's market—in other words, no casual gathering point where it's possible to bump into neighbors in an organic way.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“It's true that people need places to live, and I don't begrudge anyone the dream of owning a pretty house for their kids to grow up in—but I believe we need more than just houses. We need homes, and a home is more than just the four walls where we eat and sleep and watch Netflix. It's a place that shapes and gives meaning to our lives. We need Places with a capital P, places that honor the community's history, the sacredness of creation, and our basic human need for beauty and nature.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“if we find in ourselves a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, maybe it’s because we were made for another world.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“Ah, Lord, how precious is your weeping presence with those who weep! How much better is your companionship in the deep darkness than your absence in the light!”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“But even in Christ, the grief goes on, and anyone who tells you otherwise is in denial. That’s not to say deep joy doesn’t perpetually encroach, because like a waxing moon, the very fullness of joy is destined to one day wholly illuminate our faces.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“At odds with my great love of solitude is my great fear of isolation. Solitude is a choice. Isolation is inflicted. For example, one of my favorite places in the world is right here, in the Chapter House—but only when Jamie's in the house doing her thing, and Skye's on the porch writing a song just loud enough for me to hear her sweet voice once in a while. The boys live nearby, so even if we're not in the same room, it feels like we're all together. The pleasure of solitude is not loneliness, but the nearness of love. When I'm on a ramble in the trails here at The Warren I know my friends are a short drive away, my family is close enough to sneak away from—and to return to at a moment's notice—and on my good days I feel the pleasure of God's overarching presence, like the protective boughs of an old tree. The silence is more like an embrace.

Isolation is finding yourself alone when you don't want to be.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“Trees need to be still in order to grow. We need to be still in order to see that God’s work in us and around us is often slow and quiet, patient and steady.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“Glory be to God, Time itself will be redeemed, because it will no longer be an adversary, but a friend, an everlasting Sabbath, an unending feast.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom

“I remember whispering to myself, with a shiver of wonder, “I am me.” I was a Self.”
― Andrew Peterson, The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom