In the most beautiful of gardens, even those tended by the most skillful of botanists, there is an occasional rose that buds, but never opens. In all respects the rose is like all the others, but something keeps it from blooming. It takes a master gardener to nurture this type of rose to full maturity.

What happens in nature's garden happens once in a while also in the garden of God's human family. A baby is born, beautiful, precious, but fails to come to its rightful unfolding. This child, like the rose bud that never fully opens, is gathered back into God's heavenly garden of souls. The bud is nurtured by God, and achieves its full potential in God's Heavenly Garden, a garden that we will walk to in due course.