The Garden: A Parable

The grandmother was about to turn 90 and her family planned to take her to a place she’d always talked about but had never visited: the Grand Canyon.

On her birthday they presented her with a card containing a mockup of a “plane ticket” and “hotel reservations” in Arizona, and excitedly told her they were going to take her to the Grand Canyon that fall.

“Thank you,” she said, “but I would much prefer to stay here, in my garden.”

“But Grandma,” they said, “If you don’t go now, then when? You’re not gonna live forever, you know; you’re running out of time!”

“No I’m not,” she said; “I’m running through time, just like all of you.”

“But be realistic!” they said. “You don’t have all that much time left!”

She replied, “Actually, I have all the time in the world. The only decision I have to make each moment is what to do with that moment. Time itself is eternal. It will exist long after God has written my character out of this series, and then you will all continue your journey through time as well. And I wish you well in your travels, but please, let me stay in my garden!”

(So they all went to the Grand Canyon without her.)

We’ve all got all the time in the world, if you think about it.