Just as the interior of the tabernacle is more impressively sacred through its hallowed beauty, so are the grounds outside beautified for the honor and glory of God.

When the work on the expansive park of flowers was first started Mother took an active part. She had an eye for beauty and would say to her helpers: "Put the begonias here, the fuchsias there; and let us border this winding path with variegated petunias, and the other one with marigolds. Then we will put the climbing rose bushes all along the outside fence."

Sometimes at home, when she and her secretary became weary after long hours of work – answering mail and editing material for the church paper – Mother would say, "Let us go out into the garden." At the proper time they would prune the shrubs and roses – cut them back until it would appear that nothing was left to come to full maturity and beauty. Mother, in her sermons, has compared that pruning with the "pruning" God has to do on some of His children. He may see they need to have a little pride, a little selfishness, or something else trimmed away before they can make proper progress, and mature spiritually. Mother said: "If you want to get the real fragrance of a rose, just crush it in your hand and when it is broken up it smells the sweetest.” She explained, "When a child of God is crushed with trial, grief or suffering, the real 'sweetness' of the Christian spirit and character is manifest."