He was in a photography darkroom. He opened his Bible. He says he saw a vision.
He wrote a hymn in 45 minutes that has never left.
Charles Austin Miles was not primarily a minister. He was a pharmacist who had become a music editor for a gospel publishing house, spending much of his working time not in a pulpit but in a photography darkroom developing photographs — a hobby that had become something of a second trade.
In March 1912, Miles was sitting alone in that darkroom. It was cold. According to his own account, he opened his Bible to John 20 — the passage describing Mary Magdalene arriving at the empty tomb on resurrection morning, weeping, then encountering the risen Jesus, who speaks her name.
Miles later wrote that as he read, the scene became vivid to him in an overwhelming way — as if he were standing in the garden himself, watching it unfold. He described it as a vision, though he acknowledged others might call it simply a deep imaginative engagement with the text.
He reached for paper and wrote. Forty-five minutes later, both the words and the melody of "In the Garden" were complete.
"And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own."
The hymn became one of the most beloved gospel songs of the 20th century, recorded by artists ranging from Tennessee Ernie Ford to Elvis Presley, selling tens of millions of copies across formats and generations.
A man alone in the dark, reading about a woman alone in a garden, wrote a hymn about the moment she was no longer alone.
Share this with someone who needs to know He still speaks names.
"Jesus said to her, 'Mary.'" — John 20:16