The Garden of Relationships: Where People and Life Events Connect

By Janice B. Tomlinson

Our lives are a lot like gardens. It takes effort to ensure that we thrive and flourish during the different seasons. When we cultivate relationships by nurturing the people who mean a lot to us, we’ll experience personal and interpersonal growth.

The Garden of Relationships offers help for anyone seeking inner peace from the effects of past decisions. Grounded in faith, this guide presents nature metaphors designed to help you view the struggles and triumphs of your relationships from new perspectives. Take the opportunity to reflect on events in your life and come to terms with the personal truths that may be difficult to face. If you are restless, you’ll be energized and encouraged to begin resting in God.

This set of personal essays and spiritual lessons invites you to look at the relationships in your life in new ways and gain knowledge that will help you to flourish in the days ahead.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664251106

Janice B. Tomlinson

Janice B. Tomlinson holds a degree from Tyndale University. She is registered as a Social Service Worker in Toronto, Canada. Serves as a Certified life coach through her business, Within Reach Life Coaching, empowering and encouraging others to become their best selves. She lives with her family in Brampton, Ontario, Canada.

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Copyright © 2022 Janice B. Tomlinson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-5037-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-5038-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-5110-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021924067

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/04/2022

CONTENTS

Acknowledgment

Chapter 1Insight for Life

Chapter 2Emerge and See

Chapter 3The Givers and Takers in Life

Chapter 4How and When Did I Become One of the Hypocrites?

Chapter 5Deal with Death from My Experiences with the Living

Chapter 6I Realized My Spouse Was Not Enough

Chapter 7The Growth Experiences

Chapter 8Let Your Pain Lead You

Epilogue

Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The unexamined life is not worth living.

—Socrates

I have always had a desire to document my thoughts and ideas and somehow craft them into a book. After years of procrastination, this is my accomplishment. Sharing ideas with DeVon, my husband of thirty-one years; my rock, tower of strength, and sounding board, was my norm. Writing a book was one of my greatest ambitions, but I only shared it with him. One day he said, Jan, I think I have more faith in you than you have in yourself. Well, that was my impetus to share my life experience with you. I’d like to demonstrate how what we handle each day impacts our relationships.

I honor my mother, Barbara Reid, who has never failed to express her love or ability to guide me throughout the stages of my life. I am motivated and inspired by the strength and perseverance she showed by raising four girls Marcia, Marlene and Dellicia. Lovingly, my father Winston still calls me his baby girl, even though his youngest daughter Whitney is my sister. My family is blended, and thanks to my brother Lloyd, I was not always surrounded by girls. I am also fortunate to have a close circle of special friends who inspire me to do more each day. For this, I am grateful.

I am also incredibly grateful for our four children, Jessica, DeJean, Jazmin, and Jenesis, who meaningfully contribute to my life. Our two other God-given children, Nazier and Nishya, came into our life at the tender ages of five and seven. Being a foster parent has allowed me to include other children into our family so that there is never a dull moment at the Tomlinson home.

I save the best for last by thanking my God, who is the air that I breathe and the source of my being. I can do nothing without Him.

CHAPTER 1

INSIGHT FOR LIFE

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It’s the small pieces that matter the most.

I can still remember the excitement my children had a few years back while they explored the garden at my father-in-law’s home. We watched them move through various flower arrangements, completely mesmerized by the assortment of colors as they walked along the pathway. They wanted to touch the flowers and pick the leaves that looked different from the rest. This memory of my children reminds me that youth have transferable energy that allows adults to seize each moment.

The garden was designed to allow plants to bloom at different times. It highlighted the beautiful contrasts that exist in nature. The lilies