The Gardener Appeared on Christmas

Last updated on: December 19, 2025 at 1:16 pm by Richard E. Simmons III

The Gardener Appeared on Christmas 2025-12-19T13:16:34-06:00 Richard E. Simmons III

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

One of my favorite books is There is a God, by philosopher, Antony Flew. He writes of his journey from atheism to theism. He died three years after the book was written and I am not sure if he ever became a Christian, though in the book he speaks of Christianity as being quite compelling.

While he was an atheist, he liked to share a parable that explained why he held this atheistic belief. The parable goes like this:

Two men stumble upon a beautiful garden in the midst of a dense forest. The two men logically assume there must be a gardener. They wait for a long time, but no gardener appears. The first man concludes that no gardener exists even though the flowers are set out in neat, well-kept rows; this garden, he contends, is simply the consequence of an unknown natural process, an aberration in the natural scheme and contrary to the principal of entropy. The second man urges patience, arguing that there has to be a gardener for they both can clearly see that the garden remains orderly.

The gardener must be invisible, the second man surmises. Deciding to test this new premise, they surround the garden with an electric field that will set off an alarm and reveal the presence of this invisible gardener. They wait for quite some time; yet, again, no gardener appears. They now reach the conclusion that even though an orderly garden exists, there is no gardener to be known because one has not appeared. Mr. Flew applies this illustration to our world and states that just as there is no gardener in the story, there must be no God we can know for He has failed to make an appearance.

However, when you look at all the religions of the world, you see that no gardener has appeared, except in Christianity, for in Christianity, the gardener has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ.

When my son Dixon was around eleven years old, he asked me why I believed in God. I told him that there is a great deal of evidence that points to the existence of a divine being. However, I told him that the main reason I believe in God is Jesus. God sent Jesus into the world as divine revelation. The only way we could know who God is and what He is like, is for Him to reveal Himself to us.

We are told by Paul:

“For in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in the bodily form.” (Colossians 2:9)

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus “is the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of His nature.” (Hebrews 1:3)

We celebrate at Christmas the incarnation, because it is the foundation of our faith. And on that first Christmas morning, the Eternal stepped into time, and we beheld his glory.

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author. Richard’s new book, Reflections on Happiness: In a Broken and Chaotic World has arrived and can be purchased on Amazon, and locally at Seibels, Little Professor, Church Street Coffee & Books and our office.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 11, 2025

Keeping Your Promise

Next Post

December 27, 2025 Making Life Changes

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Character Development Inspiration Leadership Life Purpose Personal Growth Relationships Seeking God Spiritual Truth The Bible True Masculinity Uncategorized Wisdom

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Before feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish, what did Jesus do first?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Gave thanks Blessed the Children Passed the food out Taught