Revisiting The Shack: Chapter 9 – “A Long Time Ago, In a Garden Far, Far Away”
As Mack accompanies Sarayu to a garden, he is ready for the really hard work to commence. Previous encounters with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu have been hard on his head as the necessary work of deconstruction was done. Reconstruction, however, cannot be done in the head. It calls for the whole person, body, soul, and spirit, to engage with Papa and Friends in a total and extreme makeover. A Mess of a Garden After a trek Mack and Sarayu arrive at a garden. But not a well-manicured, ordered garden as Mack expected. Instead he found “chaos in color” (128). He thinks it a mess and says so. Surprisingly, Sarayu takes this as a compliment. It is a mess she allows, but a mess that has a fractal in it. In other words, there is an order and purpose in this mess (129). The first task for the duo is to gather a bouquet and deliver to the door of a small garden shed hidden amid the chaos. Next, they pick up some tools a...