Longing for the Garden - behind the album

If you’ve seen the artwork we’ve used in promotion for Longing for the Garden, you may wonder why the heck we planted flowers around a tree stump and then lit it on fire. Stay with me - there’s a story there:

My husband Andrew had a dream before we were engaged - I was caught in a burned-out tree trunk deep in a forest that had been devastated by fire. In the dream, he offered his hand to me, but when I took it and began to step out towards him, the bark tore my skin and I wept. He held on and I kept moving towards him, and when my foot touched the forest floor, moss and small flowers began to grow up from the ground - new life, where there had been devastation.  

That dream has stayed with us throughout our marriage, and we’ve taken on different roles in its story during different seasons. During the dark decade that was Andrew’s Lyme disease journey and his mother’s illness, I was the one holding out my hand to him. There have been seasons when we’ve each had to reach out for the other again - reminding each other that there can be beautiful things birthed out of pain. More often than anything, we’ve both been stuck in the tree trunk, and it was the Lord who held out his hand to us. 

I know many of well enough to know that your stories have been marked by grief and suffering, and you’ve come to mind during the process of creating this album.

You’ll hear a lot of scripture in these songs, but the overarching themes are contained in the following 3 passages:

 “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”  (1 Corinthians 13:12)

 “My beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come..’” (Song of Solomon 2:10-12a)

 “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”  (Revelation 22:2)

Each song has a story that I’ll share here in the coming weeks - from our creator’s incredible design of neuroplasticity (“Gentle Gardener”) to quoting my Mamaw’s favorite hymn (you’ll have to listen to find it). My prayer is that these songs create a space for processing pain and grief as we each take our next, sometimes painful, step of faith into fullness of life with Jesus.