Pearl looked out from the fencing and surveyed the world of Her Garden Home. There under the camellias were the graves of the hens she had known all of her life. As she studied the fallen tears of the camellia blossoms, she remembered how important it is to look backwards before looking forwards.

She knew the importance of living in the present. This is where God lives with us. He is always in the present with us. When we stray into the past or into the future and desire to remain in either of those places we isolate ourselves from God, our Great Gardener.

Yet we look to the past to remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness and mercy in getting us to where we are in the present, and we look to the future to know how to pray for God’s goodness and grace in helping us to reach our goals.

This was all to discover our next book. Perhaps it should be a follow-up to our best-selling book that features Pearl, How to Explain Christmas to Chickens.

Illustrator’s Note: There are many more grave markers than what we would have ever needed for our little flock, but their number reflects the lives that passed on this land before my chickens and I lived here.