Who Needs Johnny’s Garden?

Author: Dr. Bob Caldwell

My wife and I spent a wonderful eight days in Hawaii last year. It was our first trip there and we were both amazed at the beauty and wonder of it all. I thought then (and through our cold winter) that I could get used to living in that wonderful paradise. 

One morning at the hotel, our waitress mentioned something about her mother back in Iowa. I asked how she came to live in Hawaii from Iowa. She answered that she spent a vacation several years back visiting a friend and then went back home, sold her stuff, and returned to live. 

To support her desire to live in Hawaii, she was working as a waitress whereas she had a more lucrative career on the mainland. But to her, a middle-aged woman with no husband or children at home, the trade-off was worth it. 

I heard a similar story several times during our vacation. Each time it reminded me of a song by Stephen Stills from 1972 titled, “Johnny’s Garden.” In 1970 Stills moved to England and bought an estate called Brookfield House from Ringo Starr which had been previously owned by the actor Peter Sellers. It came with a gardener named John who had been employed there for many years. Stills found Brookfield House so relaxing that he composed the song that immortalized the gardener and the idyllic estate. 

 

There’s a place I can get to 
Where I’m safe from the city blues 
And it’s green and its quiet 
Only trouble was, I had to buy it 

 

And I’ll do anything I’ve got to do 
Cut my hair and shine my shoes 
And keep on singin’ the blues 
If I can stay here in Johnny’s Garden 

 

Stills kept singing on the road so he could afford to live in Johnny’s Garden. (Eventually, the infatuation wore off, and he sold it and moved to Colorado.) I thought especially of the chorus when speaking with people in Hawaii. They were so in love with it that they would completely rearrange their lives to be there. 

If I had my way, I would live in Hawaii. I hate the cold and snow. I love the tropical breezes. I could live with the “monotony” of no seasons. 

However, it is not practical for me to think about. Hawaii is too expensive for my wage-earning abilities. I have a wife who might not mind living there, but it’s too far from our kids. I have responsibilities to the organization to which God has called me that really isn’t geared for that kind of tele-commuting. So, for now, it is only a dream. 

I mentioned about how much I would like to live in Hawaii on a Facebook status. One of the women who attended a church I was pastor of 20 years ago reminded me that I often spoke about being content with your situation in life. (Don’t you hate it when people quote your words back to you?) 

But she was right. A favorite verse that I would quote often is Philippians 4:12 NIV: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” 

Hawaii is awesome. I would probably enjoy Brookfield House. But for true contentment, all I need is to be in God’s will. Knowing that you are in the place and situation that God wants for you is better than Johnny’s Garden any day.