{"id":23587,"date":"2026-01-08T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=23587"},"modified":"2026-01-06T06:25:43","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:25:43","slug":"an-angel-in-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=23587","title":{"rendered":"An Angel in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Our word for the year is encourage<\/em>\u2014and wouldn\u2019t you know it, God keeps giving us pop-up reminders everywhere we turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right outside our garage, no less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our community has shared garden beds\u2014wood-sided spaces meant for flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Most of them shine through spring and summer, then quietly rest. But not Cherry\u2019s. Oh no. Cherry decided that fall and winter deserved beauty too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time we walk in from the garage, we\u2019re greeted by her handiwork\u2014blooms still standing tall, colors still speaking joy, life still saying, I\u2019m not done yet.<\/em> Cherry laughs about the squirrels who try to stage a takeover, but she\u2019s one step ahead with her clever fencing. She tends her patch faithfully, and without realizing it, tends our hearts too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her name fits her perfectly\u2014Cherry. Sweet. Bright. Full of goodwill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day I spotted a Willow Tree figurine titled \u201cAngel of the Garden.\u201d<\/strong> I smiled. That\u2019s her.<\/em> So we bought it\u2014not because she asked, not because she needed it\u2014but because encouragement loves to be given legs. When we handed it to her, her face lit up. Photos were taken. Joy was shared. And just like that, encouragement made a full circle\u2014given and received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture tells us, \u201cEncourage one another and build each other up\u201d<\/em> (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Sometimes that encouragement looks like words. Sometimes it looks like a visit. And sometimes\u2026it looks like winter flowers that refuse to quit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherry didn\u2019t plant those blooms for applause. She planted them because beauty matters. And that\u2019s the quiet miracle\u2014encouragement doesn\u2019t demand a stage. It just shows up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe encouragement isn\u2019t meant to be a once-a-year resolution. Maybe it\u2019s a way of seeing. A way of noticing. A way of saying, \u201cYour care matters.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So today, keep your eyes open. There may be an angel in your garden too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.\u201d<\/em> (Hebrews 10:24)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just like that\u2014God\u2019s word lights up again. \ud83c\udf38<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our word for the year is encourage\u2014and wouldn\u2019t you know it, God keeps giving us pop-up reminders everywhere we turn. Right outside our garage, no less. Our community has shared garden beds\u2014wood-sided spaces meant for flowers, vegetables, and herbs. Most of them shine through spring and summer, then quietly rest. But not Cherry\u2019s. Oh no. Cherry…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8147,1210,16492,1720,4818,33114,5576,33111,3141,492,4700,40,33113],"class_list":["post-23587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-angel","tag-blog","tag-blooms","tag-encourage","tag-encourage-one-another","tag-everleight","tag-garden","tag-garden-beds","tag-gift","tag-goodwill","tag-handiwork","tag-inspiration","tag-squirrels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23589,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23587\/revisions\/23589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}