Keukenhof is considered by many as the most beautiful spring garden in the world. Located in South Holland in the Netherlands, it is one of the world’s largest flower gardens and contains over seven million tulips. Keukenhof is Dutch for “kitchen garden” and is also known as the Garden of Europe. The bulbs are planted annually over seventy-nine acres southwest of Amsterdam and tourists gather from mid-March to mid-May to see the stunning array of beauty.
In North America, the famous Butchart Gardens in British Columbia, Canada, could be voted as the best garden in the world. It receives almost one million visitors annually. When Robert Pim Butchart’s limestone quarry became exhausted in 1909, his wife Jennie turned the pit into a beautiful sunken garden. Little by little she added a Japanese Garden, an Italian Garden, ponds, fountains, and ornamental birds from around the world. Over one million bedding plants in 900 varieties continue to charm lovers of nature.
There is a garden on earth more beautiful than all the richest flower beds in the world. It is not decorated with manicured lawns, impressive trees, and spectacular fountains. The Garden of Gethsemane, located at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, is where Jesus prayed the night before His crucifixion. It was here that the sins of the world began to press down on the Savior. In the silent darkness, Jesus fell to the ground as one dying. The weight of our iniquities was crushing the life from His soul.
Gethsemane is magnificent because it is where the final steps to Calvary began. Here Jesus cried out, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). Christ drank the cup of death so that we could someday walk together with Him in humanity’s first home—a garden.
Precious Lord, may every flower I see remind me of Your perfect love for me.
For Further Study: Matthew 26:36–46; Gen. 2:8–17; Rev. 22:1–5
