In His Garden: A Letter from the Editor
by Kimberly Phinney
MASTHEAD
Sarah Steele, editor
Ashley Whittemore, editor
Kimberly Kralovic, editor
Kimberly Phinney, editor-in-chief
A Letter from the Editor
Dear Reader,
Battling chronic illness over the past five years, I have spent a great deal of time tending, pondering, and praying in gardens. In that obsession (and literal lifeline), I turned my eyes to the gardens of the Bible, too—to Eden, Gethsemane, the garden near Golgotha—and to the poetry, toil, and gardens of Heaven…
In those pages of the Good Book and the soil of the Good Garden, I was gifted one epiphany after another. No doubt, they likely weren’t anything earth-shattering or new to mankind, as I suspect most creative contemplatives who believe in the God of the Bible come to know these things too, but for me—in this particular season—they were life-altering and lifesaving.
It seemed all my experiences, prayers, and studies were whispering to me one thing, over and over, in various iterations: EVERYTHING starts here—in HIS garden.
The garden is the metaphor for life. It is life. It is death. It is rebirth. The garden—in its cycles, seasons, stages, and microcosms—tells the story of humankind and the story God is weaving like nothing else can. There is a reason the Bible starts in a garden with creation and then culminates with Christ’s vital work in and through a garden—from Eden to Gethsemane, to when Christ reveals his resurrected-self to Mary of Magdalene and is confused for the gardener.
From the microscopic organisms to the unseen undergrowth, from the vibrant regality of the roses to the great oaks that lend their shady coverage, the garden holds it all—just as God holds the Universe in his hands. There isn’t anything here in the garden that goes unseen or without God’s blessings and intentions; even the fallow ground, decay, and brutal pruning that must take place are part of God’s order, grace, and redemption.
This is the vision of our literary journal’s 2025 Spring Collection: In His Garden. Everything starts here…until it is finished…
We pride ourselves in being a community journal that provides soul-care and creative excellence to our writers and artists, so you will find faithful creatives who are quite established with many publications and awards alongside emerging creatives who are just beginning their journey. We celebrate and love them all as God’s image bearers!
So, please read deeply, comment widely, connect richly, as we celebrate—yet again—our largest journal yet, with nearly eighty faithful creatives.
For someone so full of words, I cannot begin to articulate what you all mean to me. I know it’s been said before, but I will keep saying it: The Way Back to Ourselves saved me in my darkest hour, and I hope, in some small way, it is saving you a little, too, as we journey together toward wholeness and holiness in a world that has often forgotten how.
You belong here,
Kimberly Phinney
IN THE GARDENER’S HANDS*
by Kimberly Phinney
Sometimes, God uses the narrow blade
of his spade to be kind
and his strong right-hand
to pull us up out of old pots
we have outgrown.
He knows every season is sacred,
what the new soil holds,
and what craven dirt cannot.
So, let him mold you
and grow you brand new.
In the groundbreaking,
be broken open—
loosed roots anticipating
the dark plunge of life
and trusting in
the Gardener’s hand.
Amen.
* “In the Gardener’s Hands” was first published in Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living.
Come in! Won’t you enter the Garden with us and be changed by the wonder, love, and goodness of God that we find there? God bless you!
A note on the removal of “FEATURED” content: We decided as an editorial team to remove “featured” content for the Spring 2025 Collection due to the overwhelming quality of work. There were far too many outstanding pieces, which all deserved equal recognition. So, in the spirit of celebration and our inability to highlight just ten to twelve features, we have removed the “featured” label to draw attention to everyone equally.
TIP: Reading the journal on your computer or tablet is the best experience due to the formatting issues you might experience on your phones.
KIMBERLY PHINNEY
Kimberly Phinney is a writer, professor, counselor, publisher, and editor. She’s been published in Christianity Today, Ekstasis, Fathom, Solum Literary Press, The Dewdrop, Humana Obscura, Calla Press, and more. She is the founder of www.TheWayBack2Ourselves.com. Her poetry is award-winning. “Exalted Ground” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2024. Her poem “An Ode to Hard Dark Nights” won the Audience Choice Award in the Bright Wings Poetry Contest with Ekstasis and Makers and Mystics in 2024. Her small collection of poetry from Of Wings and Dirt won runner-up in Fathom Magazine’s Poetry Contest in 2023.
A doctoral candidate in Community Care and Counseling, Kimberly holds an M.Ed. in English and studied at Goddard’s Creative Writing MFA program. She was featured on Good Morning America for a national award and for teaching through critical illness. Her poetry collection, Of Wings and Dirt, was a bestseller on the Amazon Charts throughout 2024. Her second book of poetry, Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living, debuted as a bestseller and #1 in Christian Poetry Charts in April of 2025. She is at work on her large nonfiction project, which she hopes will be published in 2027, as well as a third book of poetry.