My
daughters and I were excited to learn that we would have the opportunity to
preview Jane G. Meyer's latest book The
Hidden Garden: a Story of the Heart.
We read it four times the afternoon we received our copy of the
book. My daughters are 8 and 4 years
old, and I'm old enough not to tell my age, so we all took something different
from it, but we also agreed it was a good book.
This is a book that I feel privileged to have in our library. It is one that we will read over and over,
that we will share with friends, and it is one that I hope one day many years
from now to pull out and read for some grandchildren. It is a book that I predict will become an
Orthodox children's classic.
It appealed
more to my younger daughter than my older one.
After we finished it the first time, she asked to read it again, and
then said, "Let's read it again and again and again." What better endorsement could you ask?! She was captivated by the story and by Masha
Lobastov's lovely illustrations. On our
first reading, she stopped me to point out the beautiful rainbow in front of
which the narrator, an old man, plays in a fountain like a boy. She also loved the illustration of the boy
with Jesus and the saints at the end of the story. She, especially, felt a connection to the
young, girl saint. At 4 years old, she
was happy just hearing the surface story of an old man nurturing a dry, dead
land and turning it into a flourishing garden.
My older
daughter was able to grasp the deeper meaning in the story. Her favorite part was when the Man kept
knocking until the old man got annoyed and let him in. When the old man finally wanted to let the
Man in but couldn't find the key, the Man showed him the key. My daughter commented, "I could even
help him find the key. The key is
love." We discussed what sorts of
things cause our hearts to be like deserts– lacking love–, and what we need to
do, like the old man, to make our hearts fertile and fruitful. On each reading we stopped at the page with
the old man playing in the fountain. So,
I took the opportunity to ask why it's significant that he should act like a
boy. We were able to explore the Bible
story of the children coming to Jesus, and to be reminded that we must all try
to hold on to the purity and innocent love of childhood.
Finally,
this book was a powerful reminder to me.
There are times when I feel like I'm lost in a desert, a sheep who can't
find the flock. And I sometimes wonder
if the good shepherd is searching for me.
Even thought it is sometimes hard to hear the Man knocking at the gate,
how comforting it is, even as an adult, to be reminded that our God is always
reaching out to us if only we can find the key to let him in.
We are
nearing Great Lent, and as I contemplate the journey I will be making to Pascha
with my family, I know that The Hidden
Garden will certainly be part of that journey this year. We will read it again and again, as my
younger daughter requested, to nourish and sustain us on our spiritual journey.
