Has the Lord called you out, just apart to Himself?
Shut up to His presence alone?
In a garden enclosed, you may bear precious fruit,
Which only to His eye is known.
The fruits of the Spirit, so precious to Him,
Need not active life to be known,
But in quietness, restfulness, patience and peace,
These fruits in His presence are grown.
The love and the gentleness, goodness, joy, faith,
Which come from His great heart of love,
Can only be known, when we’re resting in Him,
Occupied with the One up above.
The peace and long-suffering, temperance too,
The meekness, expressed by our Lord,
Were all shown in Jesus, when here upon earth
He walked as a man before God.
Up there in the glory, He lives for us now,
The Lamb, who to this world once came;
And seeks by His Spirit, to work in His own,
To bear fruit for His precious name.
In a garden enclosed, just shut up with Himself,
Is the place for these graces to grow;
Where we’re watered by rivers, and streams of His love,
And His presence continually know.
L. Beckwith