I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

By LILY FINCH

The Salvation Army has been around since 1865. An itinerate pastor named William Booth started the organization as a grassroots effort with boots on the ground in London. He didn't have buildings, but he did have a dedicated following who saw desperate need among the poorest of people and took to the streets to offer help. The Salvation Army is known for its charitable and Christian works all over the globe. One of their deeds was working with young and incarcerated people in Canada.

Officers known as the Millers were one such couple chosen to do just this kind of work. Who could have predicted the terrible turn of events that would unfold when they decided on a ministry in Alberta, Canada? Paul Miller and his wife, Sandra, were good people and had a wonderful marriage, and they had taken all of the appropriate courses needed to work the prison circuit. (as prescribed by the Salvation Army to prepare them for working with such offenders). They committed to serving the Lord in this manner.

Paul was stationed in the Calgary area while his wife, Sandra, was stationed a further bit north, just outside Red Deer. Sandra would call home periodically to check in with Paul and their two children. But as time progressed, Sandra was becoming increasingly distant, and she was not making the phone calls home as much anymore. She was also not interested in having Paul come up for the weekend to see her. She claimed she was too busy and that her work was her priority now. As time passed, Paul realized something was amuck and attempted to find out if his wife would be joining the family for Christmas. Sandra replied, “no, she was going home to England to visit her mother over the holidays so they were to celebrate without her this year.” Paul became worried now as he thought something was more than amuck now he thought she was going mad.

In England, her mother got out of Sandra the real reason why she was in England for Christmas. Sandra had fallen in love with an inmate and was planning on divorcing Paul and marrying this inmate. When Sandra’s mother heard that she promptly kicked Sandra out of the house. Sandra had no choice but to return to Canada and live with her future mother-in-law. When the date came to be married they were married whilst her man was still incarcerated. He complied and gave no reason for Sandra to be alarmed or question his commitment to her. Three weeks after they were married and he was free, he left her. Sandra was a fool. She had no one and was all alone. Paul was already gone on with his life and her kids did too. Sandra would learn a valuable lesson that day. “You’d better look before you leap cause waters run deep and there won’t always be someone there to pull you out… …I never promised you a rose garden.”¹

1^ Rose Garden ( I Never Promised You A ) lyrics - Lynn Anderson "Zodiac" soundtrack is a song written by Joe South, best known as recorded by country music singer Lynn Anderson, and originally released by Billy Joe Royal in 1967.