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Archive for the ‘Good Morning’ Category

Dealing with Disharmony

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a miting of divorcement:
But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeh adultery (Matthew 5:31-32).
We are told that in those days divorces were granted by the rabbinical law on the most trifling grounds. Married people who were not getting on together as well as they would have liked, were prone to run away from that problem by obtaining an easy dissolution. Now we understand that no permanent happiness can be obtained in this way. As long as you are running away from your problem, you will continue to meet it in a new guise at every turn in the road.
Just as in running from one business position to another, without first having brought about a charge in consciousness, we find ourselves but repeating the old conditions in a slightly different form, so, as a rule, people who divorce freely are apt to finish up as dissatisfied as they began. The general rule in Truth is, fight out your problem where you are, with prayer.
The general rule is still good for all conditions in life: Do not try to divorce or amputate the disharmony, but let it dissolve away of itself under God’s guidance.
In our lives, let us always seek to supplant disharmony in our environment with tolerance, patience, love and grace within. Walking away from disharmony allows the problem to fester and grow. Walking with someone through disharmony allows the problem to dissolve in mutual commitment and love. This, of course requires the efforts of all parties.
When the affected parties can not agree to walk through disharmony, both are likely to live with it in one form or another. So, let us face disharmony with God’s truth and open ourselves to God’s work through us to replace disharmony with peace.
In harmony,
Z gardener

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No Price Too Great

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (Matthew 5:29-30).
The soul’s integrity is the one and only thing that matters. And so Jesus insists that positively no sacrifice can be too great to insure the integrity of one’s soul. Anything that stands in the way of that, must be given up.
Whatever is standing between us and our true contact with God—a sin, an old grudge left unforgiven, stark greed for the things of this world—must go. Such things, however, are so obvious that at least the transgressor is aware of them; it is the subtle things like self-love, self-righteousness, and spiritual pride that are most difficult for the self to exorcise.
The subtle traps into which we fall, lock us into a pattern of thinking and behavior that leads us into even greater traps. When we succumb to vanity, pride and ego, our steps take us inexorably to even greater sin. Even worse, we are blinded to our lostness because of self-righteousness, spiritual pride and self-love.
So today, let us turn away from the self and turn toward God and others. When we remove these barriers to joy, our eyes are opened, our places known and our path secure. This is the true path to peace, love and hope. Let us travel that path today.
Seeking the path,
Stan
Author’s note: Today a new gardener joins us in Eden. She has dedicated her life to God and serving others in times of their greatest need. She is truly a pastor and sheds her grace on all she touches. We are blessed with her presence. Welcome to the Garden sister. S.

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As A Man Thinketh

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:27-28).
In this unforgettable paragraph, Jesus stresses the master truth, so utterly fundamental, yet so unsuspected by the world at large, that what really matters is thought. People have always been accustomed to suppose that as long as their deeds conformed to the law, they have done all that can be reasonably expected of them, and that their thoughts and feelings are their own business. But the type of thought that we allow to become habitual will sooner or later find expression on the plane of action.
The logical consequence of this fact is very startling. It means that if you entertain covetous thoughts for your neighbor’s money, you are a thief, even though you may not yet have put your hand in the till. The adulterer at heart is corrupting his soul even though his impure thought is never expressed on the physical plane. Lusts, jealousy, vengeance, mentally entertained, carry the soul’s consent, and this soul-consent is the malice of sin.
Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life(Proverbs 4:23).
If we learn this one cardinal truth, then all our time spent together in the “Good Morning Garden” will have been worthwhile. This is the key to understanding the reality that our sensory perception will never reveal to us.
The simple truth is that our realities are determined by our thoughts. Regardless of the physical environment that surrounds us, our thoughts determine the reality we experience.
As we think, so we are.
Thinking rightly,
Z gardener

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Making Terms with the Adversary

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

By coming to terms with the adversary in the first place, that is to say, by getting our thought right immediately concerning any difficulty, we incur no “costs”and the transaction remains a simple one.
Suppose that you find yourself sneezing. If you say: “There, now, I have caught cold again; I am in for it!” and then proceed to dwell upon the thought that you have caught cold, you are giving the trouble the opportunity to dig itself into your mentality. People often indulge in quite a meditation upon colds. Instead, if at the first moment that the possibility of catching cold occurs to you, you immediately reject it and affirm the Truth, the whole thing will be over in a short time.
Or perhaps upon opening your morning mail you find a notice informing you that your bank has failed. Many people in such a case would saturate themselves with the thought of ruin by rehearsing every kind of difficulty that might come. However, the proper thing to do, immediately upon becoming aware of the news, is to turn to God—your real support—and refuse to accept the suggestion of trouble as binding; literally drive the thought of loss, fear, and resentment out of consciousness. If you do this, working steadily until peace of mind is restored, you will presently find that in some way or other the trouble will disappear. Either the bank will speedily recover itself—and there is no reason at all why one person’s prayer should not save the bank and the fortunes of thousands—or, if this is not possible, you will find your loss equalized in some other way.
…whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13).
This does not mean that we are to surrender or succumb to our adversaries. it does mean we are to make every attempt to justly resolve the conflict that makes us adversaries.
It means the same thing regarding negative events in our lives. We are to make every attempt to see and accept the blessings in our pain and to trust that God is ensuring our best good in the circumstances. Accepting this truth will free us from the negative impacts and open us to the blessings therein.
Seeing blessings,
Z gardener

 

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Agree Quickly

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing (Matthew 5:25-26).
Jesus is stressing here the instruction contained in his injunction to “watch and pray.” It is ever so much easier to overcome a difficulty if you tackle it at its first appearance than it will be after the trouble has had time to establish itself in your mentality—to dig itself in, as the soldiers say. The moment a difficulty presents itself to your attention, quietly affirm the Truth, giving it no chance to dig itself in.
On the other hand, by thinking about your difficulty, you incorporate it into your mentality, and if you go on doing this long enough, it may be exceedingly difficult to get rid of it.
Jesus, when he wished to drive home a particularly important point, employed a graphic illustration from everyday life. In those times the law governing debtors was extremely severe. When a man found himself in debt, it behooved him to come to terms with his creditors as quickly as possible. Even at the present day it is important for the debtor to keep his case from coming into court, for the longer the case drags on the more lawyers’ fees, court dues, and expenses of various kinds accumulate, all piled on top of the debt proper. So it is with the various difficulties that present themselves to us in our daily lives.
Another point to remember here is that quick conflict resolution also removes unnecessary strife, stress and anxiety form our lives. If disputes can not be avoided, we should make every effort to resolve them quickly and fairly to all sides. Conflict does not nurture peace. In fact, it is the opposite.
So today, let us commit to preventing conflict when possible, and to resolving it quickly and fairly when it does arise. Peace will follow the peacemakers. Let us lead with peace.
Agreeing to peace,
Z gardener

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Danger of Anger

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 17, 2013| 1 Comment »

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift (Matthew 5:23-24).
Indignation, resentment, the desire to punish other people, the desire to “get even,” the feeling “it serves him right”; all these things form a quite impenetrable barrier to spiritual power. Jesus says that if you are bringing a gift to the altar, and you remember that your brother has anything against you, you must put down your gift and go make peace with your brother; when you have done that, your offering will be acceptable.
Jesus builds up this tremendous lesson in the Oriental tradition. He says first that whoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger; second that to be hostile to another, is to be in grave danger; and finally that to hold so low an opinion about a fellow creature as to consider him outside the pale, is to shut ourselves off from any hope of spiritual fruit while we remain in this state of mind.
Note carefully that the King James version of the Bible here makes a serious error, which has been corrected in the revised version. It interpolates a phrase not in the earliest manuscripts and makes Jesus say, “Whoever is angry without a cause”; which is a manifest absurdity. No sane person gets angry without what he deems to be a cause. What Jesus said was that whoever is angry with his brother under any circumstances is in danger.
The road to the Kingdom of God is blocked by negative emotion and attitude. To clear this blockage, one must simply avoid such emotions, or replace them with good thoughts. Then the path to our gardens is clear.
Clearing the road,
Z gardener

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Necessity for Self Control

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire(Matthew 5:21-22).
The Old Law said “Thou shalt not kill,” but Jesus says that even to want to kill, nay, even to be angry with your brother, is sufficient to keep you out of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was a distinct gain when primitive people could be persuaded not to murder but to develop sufficient self-control to master their anger. Spiritual demonstration demands that anger itself be overcome. It is simply not possible to get any experience of God worth talking about, or to exercise spiritual power until you have gotten rid of resentment and condemnation. You can have either your demonstration or your indignation, but you cannot have both.
Let us today release all the thoughts, words and attitudes that separate us from our gardens. Then we will walk in the Kingdom of God each day with joy and gratefulness.
Walking with joy,
Z gardener

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Striving for Perfection

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

            What of the person who is conscious of considerable moral imperfection, perhaps of the habit of grave sin, and is at the same time sincerely desirous of spiritual growth? Is that person to relinquish the quest for spiritual knowledge until he has first reformed his conduct? By no means. As a matter of fact any attempt to improve himself morally without spiritual aid is foredoomed to failure. The thing to do is to pray regularly and to throw the responsibility for success upon God.
The person must carry on, no matter how many times they may fail. Let them keep affirming that God is helping them, and that their own real nature is spiritual and perfect. In this way moral regeneration and spiritual unfoldment will go hand in hand. The Christian life does not require that we possess perfection of character, or else, which of us would be able to live it? What it does require is honest, genuine striving for that perfection.
…he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee (Job 36:4).
Perfection is an ideal, not a humanly achievable goal. But, we are to strive for perfection, knowing we will fall short in this world. Perfection is a direction toward which we should point our compass, it is not the path we tread on our journey. We will attain our best good if we keep our course pointed in the direction of perfection.
Direction perfection,
Z gardener

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Coming of Age

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Coming of Age
            As you grow in spiritual power and understanding you will find that many outer regulations will become unnecessary; but this will be because you have really risen above them. This point in your development, where your understanding of Truth enables you to dispense with certain outer props and regulations, is the spiritual coming of age.
However, this spiritual coming of age cannot be hurried or forced, but must appear when the consciousness is ready, exactly as the flowering of a bulb can only be the result of natural growth. You have to demonstrate where you are. To seek to demonstrate beyond your understanding is not spiritual. Fix your attention upon spiritual things, and without consciously trying to make haste you will be amazed to discover the pace at which your soul has hastened.
To take a simple example: Suppose that in a street accident you find that a man has severed an artery and the blood is spurting out. The normal course is that unless this bleeding is stopped the victim will die. Now, what is the spiritual attitude to take in such a case? Claim the ability of God to heal. If your faith is strong enough the severed artery will immediately be healed. But if your faith fails, you must take the usual steps to save the man’s life by immediately improvising a tourniquet, or whatever the proper procedure may be, still claiming divine aid.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised) …(Hebrews 10:23).
Let us all pray for divine intervention while we work unceasingly with our hearts and our hands to do our part of the job.
Working unceasingly,
Z gardener

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As A Man Thinketh

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on January 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18).
A“jot” or yod was the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, like the Greek “iota.” A “tittle” (really “little horn”) is one of those tiny spurs or projections that distinguish certain Hebrew letters.
The scribes and the Pharisees were for the most part worthy men leading strictly moral lives according to appearances. Their faults were the weaknesses of the religious formalist everywhere—spiritual pride and self-righteousness. Of these faults they were unconscious—that is the deadly malice of these diseases of the soul—but they did strive to fulfil the law, as they understood it. Jesus knew this, and he gave them credit for it. Here he warns his followers that unless their practical conduct is better than that of these people, they need not suppose that they are engaged on the spiritual path.
Any religious leader, scholar or believer who follows the law while sacrificing its premises of love, tolerance, forgiveness, grace and mercy has failed to follow God’s will. No matter how pious, devout and upright they appear, their spiritual blindness has led them astray; and they are unaware that they are lost. This fits the old saying of “the blind leading the blind”.
Let nothing lead your astray from love, peace and joy. We must follow in spirit, the intent of God’s law as well as the words. Then we will be on the true course to our gardens.
On course,
Z gardener

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