The Master Gardener
English 1301 Week 3 The Descriptive Essay Gwendolyn Wiley The Master Gardener We arrive at First Christian Church and as we approach the large red doors, I began to reflect on the days, months, and years past. A man awaits us just past those huge red doors known as the world’s greatest gardener. As a child, I remember this building seeming so large with its tall beautiful painted windows similar to the ones you might find in a Roman Catholic Cathedral. The edifice and structure of the building covered with large dark red rocks that remind you of giraffe spots.
I would visit often, as a child the air of the place seems sacred and holy. The building towers up as a grand ole castle of the days of old. On the side of this massive structure, lies a beautiful garden. When we enter, the huge archway there is a feeling that you are entering into the garden of God, filled with beautiful pink gardenias, fiery red roses, white lilies, and yellow daisies the lawn always freshly manicured with a look of a green sea that flows through the entire garden leaving you feeling tranquil about life.
The dogwood trees would bloom each spring filling the air with sweet incense that the creator would seem to smile. They stretched forth as though they struggled to find their way to the sky almost like the twisted frame of the man that cared for them. This is Jimmy’s garden. Charles James Jackson aka Jimmy a small frame man with those big gray eyes and grand smile could bring light in the darkest of rooms. He gives bone-crushing hugs to all he met. He served as a custodian, caretaker, and trustee at First Christian Church.
Jimmy dedicated over fifty years of service to this community. He polished with great care and attention to detail all the grand brass within the structure. He gave such care of the large brass bells, which he rang during each wedding, baby dedication and coming of age ceremony as though he gave his approval of each act. He would witness more than three generation of children from birth to marriage of this great congregation. He gave advice to each generation as though they were his own children showing that great smile ensuring each felt his love by giving a bone crushing hug.
Jimmy a humped back man only because he stops to bend down to hug and pick up so many children. Everyone loves Jimmy Mr. Gilmore a lifelong friend of Jimmy’s says, “God has a master gardener now”. Jimmy’s garden is a landmark in Meridian Ms everyone knows where First Christian Church is because of this elaborate garden. As the first leaf of autumn falls so does Jimmy entering into the final resting place as a seed the way so many in which he planted.
Jimmy Jackson my father passed away October 19, 2012. His little three room white house with a porch covered with flowers and plants left as a reminder of that spectacular gardener. During the funeral there were more than a dozen people stand and proclaim how Jimmy influenced their lives, many would paint a portrait of him so vivid it seemed that an entirely different person was lying inside that cold gray casket. The most vivid remembrance to me is that knee-slapping laugh.
He laughs deeply each time he laughs it seems as though it comes from a place so deep within him he almost falls over. Oh, the way he could laugh, it is a infectious laugh. If you did not know what he was saying, you laugh because he is laughing. Jimmy Jackson, the man with a green thumb, warm heart, and bright smile is gone but not forgotten. This is the world’s greatest gardener and I will echo Mr. Gilmore now God has a master gardener. Charles James Jackson we miss you, we love you rest in peace until we meet again.
