Mental relaxation is just as important as right mental activity. Wise relaxation and wise activity are the balanced poles of all true actions. Many people are constantly subjecting their minds to totally unnecessary wear and tear.
We speak colloquially of “taking the train” somewhere and actually many people who ride in trains do take the train mentally the whole journey. Many years ago I noticed that when a train arrives in the terminal after a long run, the locomotive men always seem to come off the train looking fresher than most of the passengers; although they have been working and the passengers have not. The explanation is that for the engineer and fireman it was only a routine day’s work. They did not “take the train” mentally – they let the engine take it.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…(Deuteronomy 33:27).
Worry, stress, fear, anxiety, doubt and all the other useless and harmful wear and tear we subject ourselves to affect more than just us. It subjects those we love to the same mental friction. It also degrades our total environment. Mental relaxation applies to more than turning off our minds or meditating on peace. It also means affirmatively refusing to allow unnecessary negative mental activity to infect us.
Unfortunately, as humans, we do experience these destructive mental patterns and sometimes run ourselves ragged chasing after them. The fact is, that on our own, few of us can avoid these mental and emotional states. That is why we must turn to the God within us for help. The good news is that help is always abundantly available to us.
When we seek refuge in God’s will and surrender our will to God’s way, the door to true mental relaxation swings wide open and we can enter in to a place of calm, joy, peace and relaxation. That place is the garden; the subject of these meditations. God gave us an Eden in which to rejoice and be glad. When we cast our concerns on God, then we can successfully avoid and overcome our human weakness, fear and doubt. Then we can lean back on life and let the peace that surpasses all understanding fill our garden with calmness and hope.
Laid back,
Z gardener
Good Morning Garden 
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