Jon Gordon - The Garden - A Spiritual Fable About Ways to Overcome Fear, Anxiety, and Stress

There was a streetlight in front of his house and as Jay and Kay waited for the signal to cross the street, Mr. Erwin often greeted them while sitting on the front porch drinking his coffee. With his own children grown and on their own, he missed those days when they were in school and enjoyed seeing the twins and their brief conversations where he received updates of how they were doing. Kay had made the cheering team, was nominated for homecoming queen, and was obsessed about her grades and getting an academic scholarship to college. Jay loved being in the school's marching band, making short films with his friends, and was happy with his straight Bs in school. Mr. Erwin was thrilled to hear that everything was going so well. They had always been good kids and it was gratifying to see them thrive as young adults.

Everything was great, or so he thought … until that time he badly sprained his ankle and had to sit on the couch by the front window for a week icing it. He wasn't able to greet the twins, but he heard them talk as they waited to cross the street. It was then he found out how much they were struggling.

Twins are known to be connected and share things with each other they wouldn't normally share with others. Jay and Kay were no exception. They talked about everything, and on their walk to school they talked about their innermost fears and darkest secrets; Mr. Erwin overheard snippets that made his heart ache as much as his ankle.

Underneath Kay's excitement about making the cheer team was a fear the size of Texas that she would mess up in front of thousands of people in the audience. And while she was nominated for homecoming queen, she didn't think she was pretty or popular enough to be considered. Jay encouraged her, as he always did, but she didn't see what he or others saw in her. And she was terrified of not getting into her dream school. What would happen if she worked as hard as she possibly could and it still wasn't good enough? She had trouble sleeping because of all the anxiety and started drinking a lot of coffee to get through the day.

Jay, on the other hand, didn't care much about school. He did care about his future but often felt hopeless about it. He was tired of being bullied by classmates who called him band geek and film boy and made it a point to knock into him while walking in the hallways between classes. With each passing day the stories Mr. Erwin heard got worse. One day, they punched Jay. The next day they hid his instrument when he went to the bathroom during class. The day after that they made fun of him in front of a girl he liked.

It was getting to the point Jay didn't want to go to school and revealed to Kay that he didn't want to live anymore. No one cared about his love of music or appreciated his ability to make movies. What was the point, he wondered. Kay made him promise he wouldn't do something they would regret.

“I couldn't live without you,” she said as she lifted her long-sleeved shirt to reveal the cut marks she had given herself. “See these cuts,” she said. “This is how stressed I am. But I would never end it all. I wouldn't do that to you, so don't do that to me.”

Mr. Erwin heard the worst of it on a Friday and knew that Monday he would be back on the front porch to greet them whether his ankle was healed or not.

Chapter 2

The Garden

Mr. Erwin sat on his front porch with his crutches by his side. His ankle was feeling better, but he still couldn't walk on it. His wife used to tell him all the time to watch his step. His weak ankles always seemed to find the one hole, uneven road, or short step that would cause his ankle to turn. He sure did miss her. Cancer might have taken her life, but her love still lived deeply in his heart and he thought about her every day. She loved to garden in the backyard and after she passed, he decided to make it his passion. It became a labor of love and an expression of his love for her.

When the twins arrived in front of his house, he greeted them.

“Hey Mr. Erwin,” said Kay. “Where have you been? We missed seeing you last week.”

“Oh, I've been icing and trying to heal my ankle,” he said as he got up from his chair, grabbed his crutches, and hopped down the stairs on one leg towards them. “Sprained it the other day walking out of the store. Haven't been able to work in my garden either and I was wondering if you two could help me real quick. I know you have to get to school but it will only take a few minutes.”

Jay and Kay looked at each other. “Sure, we can help,” Jay said. “What do you want us to do?”

“Follow me,” said Mr. Erwin as he used both crutches to propel himself towards the backyard. “I just need you to unwind the watering hose and move it to the center of the backyard so I can water my trees.”

As they approached the backyard, Jay and Kay stopped for a moment and looked at each other. They didn't say it but they were both thinking the same thing. Are you seeing what I'm seeing ?

The backyard was much larger than expected and it was filled with the most beautiful fruit trees they had ever seen. The trees formed a circle surrounding the perimeter of the property with only a small gap for the entrance to the yard. The early sunlight was glistening off the leaves as ripe, plump fruit dangled from the branches. In the center of the circle was an open space with finely manicured short green grass, a bench, and two trees that stood side by side.

They walked to the center and stood in front of the two trees.

“This is beautiful,” said Kay as she nervously tapped her right foot.

“Thank you,” Mr. Erwin answered. “It's a special place. I put a lot of work into it.”

“Why are these two trees by themselves,” asked Jay, who stood with his shoulders slumped.

“I'm glad you asked that,” Mr. Erwin said as he sat down on the bench. “I want to tell you an ancient story about a garden that I imagine looked much like this. It was the Garden where God placed a young man and woman named Adam and Eve. In the middle of the Garden He planted two trees: the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Do you remember the story?”

“Sort of,” said Jay. “It's been a while since I learned about it in Sunday school.”

“They ate the fruit of the tree when they weren't supposed to, right?” asked Kay as she continued tapping her foot.

“Yes, but before that part, God showed them all the trees in the Garden,” Mr. Erwin said as he pointed to the trees surrounding them, “And God told them that they were free to eat from all these trees, except they were not to eat from one tree, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that stood next to the Tree of Life. He told them that to eat from this one tree meant that they will die. Then one day a serpent appeared and convinced Eve and Adam to eat from the forbidden tree. As a result of their disobedience, they were banished from the Garden.”

Mr. Erwin continued, “I tried to re-create the beauty of the Garden of Eden, including the two trees right here in front of you. When I sit out here and look at these two trees and all the trees in my garden, I am reminded of so many important life lessons.” He looked at his watch. “Oh, but you must get to school, so we'll save those lessons for another day. I don't want you to be late, so for now I have just one question to ask you. Why did they eat the fruit? If God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the one tree, why did they do so? I'll share the answer with you tomorrow if you want to know. The answer is not what most people think.”

Chapter 3

Identity

The next day Kay and Jay walked and talked as they made their way towards school and Mr. Erwin's house. They thought it was a little strange that he had created a garden like that in his backyard and yet they were compelled to see it again. It was beautiful and mysterious, and they wanted to know why Eve and Adam ate the fruit. They googled it and found most people believed that they ate the fruit because of pride, because they wanted to be like God. When they approached Mr. Erwin's house, they saw him standing by the streetlight with his crutches.