Good Morning Garden

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall or partition between us (Ephesians 2:14).

This is not only one of the most beautiful texts in the Bible, but one of the most important. Consider what it says. First, that God is our peace; next, that not only are we and God one (all spiritual teachers say that) but that it is He who has made us one. We are one because that is the nature of being since He has made us that way. Then the inspired writer uses a figure of speech. He reminds us that when we lost our sense of unity with God, it is exactly as though a wall was built between God and ourselves. When that happens communication is broken and we are no longer one in consciousness, until, of course, the wall is pulled down.

In any difficulty the one important thing is to have the temporary wall of partition pulled down, and to let God do it—for only He can.

When mankind chose to determine for itself right from wrong, we disobeyed God in Eden. This separated us from God and we had to leave the garden God created for us. Then we had to face the world surviving by our knowledge and instincts instead of living in harmony with, under the protection of and by the will of God.

Peace,
Z gardener

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When Nebuchadnezzar sent out his decree that everyone in his kingdom should bow down and worship the golden image that he had erected, there were three men who refused to obey. These were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, Hebrew officials in the province of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar called them before him, and they bluntly told the King that their God would deliver them from the fiery furnace to which they would be consigned, but even if God did not deliver them, they would still serve Him and Him alone.

Nebuchadnezzar had the three men thrust into the fiery furnace, and the heat was so intense that it slew the guards who threw them in. Then, as he looked in upon the three faithful Hebrews, Nebuchadnezzar was astonished to find a fourth man walking in the flames with the other three. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego walked out of the fiery furnace without blemish or scar.

So it is when we hold steadfastly to God, and give all power to Him. He sends his messenger to deliver us from our furnace of fear and frustration. Then do we know that nothing shall by any means harm us.

Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him… (Daniel 3:28).

Does this mean Christians are invulnerable? Not in the common understanding of the word. It does mean that we can be saved by God’s intervention and our faith in him. But beyond the miraculous intercession, it has an everyday meaning. It means that nothing can take away our God’s blessings and protection, and the promise that everything happening to us will be for our best good. It also means that life’s most treasured benefits of peace, hope and joy can not be consumed by spiritual or physical means if we love and follow God’s will.

A delivered servant,
Z gardener

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Everyone on the spiritual path has found that it happens occasionally in the early years—and not often then—that he suddenly finds himself almost or quite unable to pray. Often it seems that he cannot get any sense of contact with God. This naturally depresses him and sometimes leads to greater fear and almost to despair.

Now, these severe reactions are not necessary, once you know that everyone goes through them.

This trouble is caused by overdoing. You have been praying too long or too hard, or you have been giving too much time to spiritual work exclusively, instead of having other interests in your life too. It is really a condition of staleness and psychological congestion. The medieval mystics called these times “seasons of dryness” and suffered severely because they believed them to be sinful.

The remedy is not to struggle, but to know that this dryness will surely pass, and your spiritual joy return. If you cannot pray, do not try, but think, “God is so good that I need not pray; he will take care of me anyway.” (Of course, this itself is a wonderful prayer.) On a long motor tour, it sometimes happens that you come upon a piece of rough, bad road. For hundreds of miles the going has been perfect, but now you are shaken and bumped badly, but you do not worry, because you know for certain that it will only last for a few miles. Indeed, there is probably a notice saying “Pavement ahead.”

…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning (Psalms 30:5)

A popular songwriter penned the these lyrics. It seemed to this author that this is what God would sing to us in relation to today’s message.

Being held up,
Z gardener

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If you pray for yourself in the right way every day, you will find that the minor things of life will gradually fall correctly into place of their own accord without any trouble on your part. Contrast this with the usual method of trying to get everything right by separately organizing a thousand petty details, and you will appreciate how wonderfully the new spiritual basis sets you free. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light (Matthew 6:22).

The eye symbolizes spiritual perception. Whatever you give your attention to, is the thing that governs your life. Attention is the key. Your free will lies in the directing of your attention. Whatever you steadfastly direct your attention to, will come into your life and dominate it. If you do not direct your attention consistently to anything in particular—and many people do not—then nothing in particular will come into your life except uncertainty and suspense.

If the Glory of God comes first with you, and to express His Will becomes the rule of your life, then your eye is single and your whole body, or embodiment, will be full of light.

How much of our time do we spend on our spiritual life? What is the primary focus our our thoughts, words and deeds. And when we are involved in spiritual “activity”, how much of that activity is truly communing with God and the Spirit that Jesus left with us to guide, counsel and advocate for us? How often do we put God and our spiritual existence at the center of our physical existence?

Keeping the eye on the ball,
Z gardener

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Read Matthew 6:16-23.

If your consciousness is right, that is, if you have a good understanding of God as the loving Source of your boundless supply, you will always be able to demonstrate whatever money or goods you may require. You cannot want for anything when once you truly realize that in divine Mind demand and supply are one. And, on the contrary, until you do realize this, you never will be really safe from want. In the long run, no one can retain what does not belong to him by right of consciousness, nor be deprived of that which is truly his by the same supreme title.

If you are looking to outer, passing, mutable things for either happiness or security, you are not putting God first. If you are putting God first in your life, you will not find yourself laboring under undue anxiety about anything, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21).

This is not to say that we can ignore our worldly needs, responsibilities or duties by claiming God is first in our lives. It is to say that when we truly put God first, we will receive that which we need to be free of want, anxiety and fear. When we put God first, we then act as God instructs us and all things, including our thoughts, words and deeds, will yield to our faith.

Seeking God’s treasures,
Z gardener

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But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking (Matthew 6:6-7).

The sixth chapter of Matthew presents the doctrine of the Secret Place and its importance as the controlling center of the “Kingdom.” It is the essential factor of the teaching of Jesus Christ. You are a king, Jesus says, the ruler of your own kingdom. When you know the truth of being, you are the absolute monarch of your own life.

It is very significant that Jesus should call your consciousness the Secret Place. It is obvious that nothing has any real significance but a change of policy in the Secret Place.

A distinguished Quaker some years ago said: “In my youth we discontinued the distinctive Quaker costume and certain other usages because we realized that people who were far from really caring for our Quaker ideas were joining us, nevertheless, for the sake of the educational facilities they could obtain so inexpensively for their children, as well as other advantages of our membership. It was so easy to style oneself a ‘Friend,’ to purchase and wear a coat without buttons or collar, and to interlard the conversation with a grammatical peculiarity, while leaving the character completely untouched. It is so easy to buy and wear ceremonial garments, to repeat set prayers by rote at certain times, to use stereotyped forms of devotion, to attend religious services at prescribed periods—and to leave the heart unchanged.”

When we realize and accept that God dwells within us and that we find God first in our hearts and minds, only then will we be able to truly express God’s spirit out into the world in prayer and ceremony. When we pour out our spirit and empty ourselves of the self, it is then that we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We can not force God’s spirit into ourselves by public display, sacramental actions or uttering words which do not rise from feelings within.

First within, then without,
Z gardener

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Really there are only two feelings that a human being can have, namely love and fear. It is generally supposed that the kinds of feeling we may have are legion, but this is an illusion. All other feelings, so-called, will turn out upon analysis to be either love or fear.

What about anger? Well, anger is really but fear in disguise. In chemistry we occasionally find the same substance occurring under completely different appearances. For example, black lead is exactly the same substance chemically as a diamond, different as they look. They are said to be allotropic forms of carbon. In the same way, anger, hatred, jealousy, criticism, egotism, are but allotropic forms of fear.

Joy, interest, the feeling of success and accomplishment, the appreciation of art, are allotropic forms of love. The great difference between the two feelings is that love is always creative, and fear is always destructive. It is for us to decide which of these two feelings shall hold sway in our lives.

God is love; and he that dwelleth in God, and God in Him (1 John 4:16).

And there we have it! It is for us to decide which of these two feelings shall hold sway in our lives. We alone choose how we will think and respond to events in our lives. We alone decide whether we will be fearful or faithful, joyous or jaundiced, concerned or confident.

Choose love,
Z gardener

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People often say that when they first came to the knowledge of truth it seemed that miracles happened almost every day. Negative conditions of long standing disappeared. Then, they say, sort of slump seemed to set in, since which they have never been able to do so well.

Now why should this be the case? The explanation is that what demonstrates is an expansion of consciousness. With an expansion of consciousness our conditions must improve. When people first learn of the omnipresence of God, they experience such an expansion. Then the tendency is to rest upon the first knowledge acquired, and to make their early realization serve over and over again. This will not do. It is only today’s realization that will demonstrate, never yesterday’s or last year’s.

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32).

The old saying that we should live each day as if it is our last is true wisdom. It is most true when we applied to our spiritual awareness. If we are to grow spiritually each day and expand our consciousness, then we must live each day anew. This is easy for children, but becomes more difficult as we grow up and mature. The wonder a child experiences from a rain shower can become the drudgery of slogging through a downpour for an adult. The awe filled eyes of the child looking up at the stars can fade to visions of fear by the adult trying to reach their car in a dark parking lot.

Seeking the child,
Z gardener

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Read Matthew 5:38-42.

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil…(Matthew 5:39).

Jesus is a revolutionary teacher. He turns the world upside down for those who accept his teaching. When once you have accepted the Jesus Christ message, all values change radically.

The old law was that whatever man did to man, he should himself be made to suffer by way of punishment. If he put out another man’s eye, his own was put out by the officers of justice; if he killed, he was killed.

The desire to “get even,” to get one’s own back, to level things up somehow or other, when we have been hurt or have suffered injustice, or witnessed things of which we did not approve, will remain with us until the time when we definitely take ourselves in hand and destroy it. “Revenge,” said Bacon, “is a kind of wild justice.”

Now Jesus reverses this and says that when someone injures you, you are to forgive him. No matter what the provocation may be, and no matter how many times it is repeated, you are to loose him and let him go, for thus only can you be freed yourself.

As strange as this sounds it makes perfect sense. Anger, judgement, resentment and revenge all take place in our minds, spirits and feelings. So, doesn’t it follow that the person allowing such thoughts and feelings is the one who would suffer from them, while the object of those thoughts does not suffer at all from them. Even more pronounced is the effect on us when we act to exact revenge, verbalize our judgements or punish those who have harmed us. In fact, we are the ones harmed most and are chained to our anger, judgement and yes, to the person who harmed us. If we are to avoid these negative consequences we must forgive the person and release our anger and judgement. This is the only way to free ourselves from this type of bondage.

In the Garden,
Z gardener

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Read Matthew 5:33-37.

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, Nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Matthew 5:33,37).

Swear not at all, is one of the cardinal points in the teaching of Jesus. It means, briefly, that you are not to mortgage your future conduct in advance; to seek to fix your conduct or your belief for tomorrow while it is yet today. Rather you are constantly to keep yourself an open channel for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into manifestation through you.

Of course, Jesus does not mean that you are not to enter into ordinary business engagements. Nor does he mean that the ordinary oath administered in a court of law is inadmissible. These things are matters of legal convenience. The Sermon on the Mount is a treatise on the spiritual life, for the spiritual life controls all the rest.

If we are to follow God’s will in all things, then we can not bind that will by our own oaths regarding our behavior. If we are to pour out our self-centered human spirit and fill ourselves with God’s holy spirit, then we must empty ourselves of self-will. This is impossible if we swear to a do something based on our own understanding at the time.

Speaking truth,
Z gardener

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