Good Morning Garden

Claiming Our Daily Bread

            The common mistake, of course, is to suppose that a formal recognition of God is sufficient, or that talking about divine things is the same as possessing them; but this is exactly on a par with supposing that looking at a tray of food, or discussing the chemical composition of sundry foodstuffs, is the same thing as actually eating a meal. It is this mistake that is responsible for the fact that people sometimes pray for a thing for years without any tangible result. If prayer is a force at all, it cannot be possible to pray without something happening. Pray regularly and quietly—remember that in all mental work, effort or strain defeats itself—then presently, the realization will come.   Another reason why the symbol of bread for the experience of the Presence of God is such a telling one, is that the act of eating food is essentially a thing that must be done for oneself. No one can assimilate food for another. In the same way, the realization of the Presence of God is a thing that no one else can have for us.   For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness (Psalm 107:9).

To be filled with God’s love, grace and peace, we must take it into ourselves as we partake of food. Looking at it, reading it or even accepting faith is not enough. We must consume it for all our needs, digest it it so that it can be used by all parts of our spiritual bodies and then convert it into the energy that fuels every thought , word and deed. In essence, it must become the bread of life for our spiritual bodies which we call the soul. Then the soul will be the fully nourished, strong and vital force for goodness, joy and peace in our lives and in the lives of all we touch.

Z gardener

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In its inner and most important meaning, our daily bread signifies the realization of the Presence of God—an actual sense that God exists not merely in a nominal way, but as the great reality; we can rely upon Him to supply all that we need to have; teach us all that we need to know; and guide our step so that we shall not make mistakes. This is Emanuel, or God with us.

People think of their supply as coming from certain investments, or from a business, or from an employer, perhaps; whereas these are merely the channels through which it comes, God being the Source. A particular channel is likely to change, because change is the cosmic law for manifestation. Stagnation is really death; but as long as you realize that the Source of your supply is the one unchangeable Spirit, all is well. The fading out of one channel will be but the signal for the opening of another.

But my God shall supply all your need…(Philippians 4:19).

Man truly does not live by bread alone. The fulfillment of all our needs is to be found in the daily bread given us by God. But, as with all that sustains us, we must partake if it is to nourish us. We partake of all God’s blessings when we believe God’s word, accept and follow God’s will and when we embrace the changes it brings. Then we shall be nourished and fulfilled in body, mind and spirit.

Realizing God’s presence,

Z gardener

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Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).

Because we are the children of a loving Father, we are entitled to expect that God will provide us with everything we need. If we do so expect, in faith and understanding, we shall never look in vain.

It is the will of God that we should all lead healthy, happy lives, full of joyous experience; that we should develop freely and steadily. To this end we require such things as food, clothing, shelter, means of travel, books, and so on; above all, we require freedom. In the Prayer all these things are included under the heading of bread; that is to say, not merely food in general, but all things required for a healthy, free, and harmonious life. But in order to obtain these things we have to claim them, and we have to recognize God alone as the source and fountainhead of all our good. Lack of any kind is always traceable to the fact that we have been seeking our supply from some secondary source, instead of from God himself, the author and giver of life.

When we seek our sustenance from the true source, we shall never lack for anything that brings our best good. That does not mean we will get everything we want, but that we will get what we need. The great challenge is to embrace what we need and submit to their will of God regarding those things we want that are not good for us.

Z gardener

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Thy Will Be Done

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

Now we too often choose to use our free will in a negative way; allowing ourselves to think selfishly, and this wrong thinking brings upon us all our troubles. Instead of understanding that it is our essential nature to express God, to be ever about our Father’s business, we try to set up our own account. We abuse our own free will, trying to work apart from God; and the very natural result is all the sickness, poverty, sin, trouble, and death that we find on the physical plane. We must never for a moment try to make plans or arrangements without reference to God, or suppose that we can be either happy or successful if we are seeking any other end than to do his Will.

Our business is to bring our whole nature as fast as we can into conformity with the will of God. “In his will is our peace,” said Dante, and the Divine Comedy is really a study in fundamental states of consciousness, the Inferno representing the state of the soul that is endeavoring to live without God, the Paradiso representing the state of the soul that has achieved its conscious unity with the divine Will. It was this sublime conflict of the soul that wrung from the heart of the great Augustine the cry, “Thou has made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find themselves in Thee.”

Our free will and creativity is what defines us as human beings. Yet, they are most often the very attributes which separate us from God’s will or cause us to act against God’s will. Until we sublimate our will to God’s and use our creative capacity to manifest God’s will, we will find happiness, peace and fulfillment to be elusive states. When we achieve unity with God’s spirit and will, all things will lead to our best good. If we base our plans, decisions and priorities on God’s will, they will give us hope, confidence and harmony in all we do. This is not easy to hear or easy to do, but it is nonetheless true.

Z gardener

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If we trace the derivation of the word hallowed we will discover a most extraordinarily significant fact. The word hallowed has the same root as holy, whole, wholesome, and heal, or healed; so we see that the nature of God is complete and perfect—altogether good. Some very remarkable consequences follow from this fact. We have agreed that an effect must be similar in its nature to its cause, and so, because the nature of God is hallowed, everything that is projected by that Cause must be hallowed or perfect too. God cannot cause or send anything but perfect good. God cannot, as people sometimes think, send sickness or trouble, or accidents—much less death—for these things are unlike His nature.

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…
(Habakkuk 1:13).

This truth turns human perception on its head. We look around us and see sick ness, trouble, accidents and death. Then we might conclude that these things are caused by God, or that they are part of God’s creation. In fact, they are caused by our separation from God, supplanting our will for God’s or from the inability to control our thoughts as God directs us to do.

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He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast;
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
—Coleridge

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the Fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee…that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this (Job 12:7-9).

The love we give to others is the surest demonstration that we understand and appreciate the love that God the Father gives to us. So today, let us love fully, serve happily and live gratefully that we may exist in the reality of the Garden that God created for us.

Z gardener

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Now the Prayer says, not “My Father,” but “Our Father,” and this indicates beyond the possibility of mistake, the truth of the brotherhood of man. If forces upon our attention at the very beginning the fact that all men are the children of one Father; and that

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Here Jesus cuts away the illusion that the members of any nation, or race, or territory, or group, or class, or color, are, in the sight of God, superior to any other group.

The final point is the implied command that we are to pray not only for ourselves but for all mankind. None of us lives to himself, however we may try. In a much more literal sense than people are aware we are limbs of one Body.

“Our Father”—a spiritual explosive, that will ultimately destroy every kind of human bondage.

This truth means that we are all part of one family. God intended that humans not be separated from each other, just as we are not to be separated form God. Those things which separate us are barriers to our unity with one another and create obstacles to obeying God’s will. When Jesus gave his last wisdom to the disciples, his parting commandment was that we love one another as brothers and sisters. He did not say to love only those who look like us or with whom we agree. This, he said would be the sign that we belong to God. Father, grant this day that we love and pray for all our brothers and sisters, and that we follow your will in all ways.

Z gardener

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Note that this clause that fixes the nature of God, at the same time fixes the nature of man. It is a cosmic law that like begets like. It is not possible that a rosebush should produce lilies, or that a cow should give birth to a colt. The offspring must be of the same nature as the parent; and so, since God is divine Spirit, man must essentially be divine Spirit too, whatever appearance may say to the contrary.

At a single blow this teaching of Jesus swept away 99 percent of all the old theology, with its avenging God, its chosen and favored individuals, its eternal hell fire, and all the other horrible paraphernalia of man’s diseased and terrified imagination. God exists—and the Eternal, All-Powerful, All-Present God is the loving Father of mankind.

If you would meditate upon this fact, until you had some degree of understanding of what it really means, most of your difficulties and physical ailments would disappear, for they are rooted in fear. If only you could realize to some extent that Omnipotent Wisdom is your living, loving Father, most of your fears would go. If you could realize it completely, every negative thing in your life would vanish away. Now you see the object that Jesus had in mind when he placed this clause first.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him (Genesis 1:27).

Just think, we are essentially the same type of being that God is. When we are able to peer through the veil of our sensory-limited perceptions and their false reality, and see our true nature, and experience existence through our spiritual awareness, then we will be living in the Garden. Then we will know true peace, free from fear and filled with hope, confidence an d joy.

Lord, let us live this day in your presence, fully aware of our true nature as children of God in love, faith and gladness.

In the true spirit,

Z gardener

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