One quiet night, a little boy knelt by his bed, folded his small hands, and whispered with all the honesty in his heart:
“Jesus…
Why does God let bad things happen to good people?”
There was a pause.
The kind of silence that feels like someone is listening.
Then, gently, Jesus spoke to his heart — not with thunder or lightning, but with love and a story.
“There once was a gardener,” Jesus said,
“who loved his garden more than anything else.
He walked through it every morning, talking to his flowers and trees as if they were family.One day, a storm came.
Heavy rain, harsh winds, broken branches.
It was ugly, loud… and it hurt the garden.A young tree asked the gardener,
‘Why didn’t you stop the storm? I thought you loved us.’The gardener knelt beside the tree and smiled gently.
‘I do love you,’ he said.
‘But storms make roots grow deeper.
They teach you to stand stronger.
Without storms, you’d stay shallow… and never grow tall.’Then he carefully pruned a branch — and the tree flinched.
‘Why are you cutting me?’ it cried.‘Because I see something more in you,’ said the gardener.
‘Even the best plants need trimming to reach their full beauty.
You don’t understand it now… but you will when you bloom.’
Jesus paused, then spoke to the little boy once more.
“I know it hurts when good people go through hard things.
I know you don’t always understand it.
But I promise — your Father is the Gardener.
He doesn’t waste pain.
He doesn’t forget His plants.
And He never, ever stops caring.Even when it storms…
He is growing something beautiful.”
The little boy wiped a tear from his cheek.
His heart didn’t have every answer,
but somehow… it felt peace.
And that night,
he didn’t just say “Amen” —
he trusted the Gardener.
