A portion of the money received for Mom’s memorial was used to purchase the Thomas Kinkade “The Garden of Prayer” painting. In this photo, Dad, Mary and Dwayne are presenting it to Kathy Brumbaugh (left) of the Avera St. Lukes Foundation.

The brass plate on lower left says “Donated by Pauline Sass Family in her memory.” The print itself titled “Garden of Prayer” also has the “Serenity Prayer” shown below it.

This is one of Thomas Kinkade’s earlier paintings and is extremely popular. It’s considered a limited edition. The size of the finished print (including frame) is 24″ x 22″. The visitor the artist talks about in the plaque is Jesus and if you look very carefully down the path past the gate you should see the “gentle visitor.” Another thing the artist does in his paintings is placing “N’s” in his paintings to honor his wife Nanette. Usually he’ll indicate how many N’s under his name.

Along with the painting came this plaque.

The Garden of Prayer
There is a place
Our God creates -
A wondrous Garden of Prayer
And there He’ll wait
Beside the gate
For those who’ll meet Him there

Perhaps in a garden we are closer to our creator. We certainly are more close to His creation. My prayer is that this painted garden will be a meeting place for many that would speak to their God in the silence of morning. Or the silence of evening. Or any time in between. In our imagination we might picture his presence at our side. Or is it just imagination? Do we see the distance a gentle visitor approaching the gate?

- Thomas Kinkade