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Archive for the ‘Good Morning’ Category

 To abide under the shadow of the Almighty means to live under the protection of God Himself. Eastern people, and especially those with a desert background, such as the people of Palestine, look upon the sun as a danger, even an enemy, from which they need to be safeguarded. Shade is sanctuary, or safety – “the shadow of a mighty rock in a weary land.” The exhausted traveler sinks down in the shade for his long-sought rest.
 
God is called “The Almighty” in order to impress us with the fact that He really is All-mighty, and can therefore overcome our present difficulty, no matter how big it may seem.
 
…for with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27).
 
Consider, however, that the promise is made to “him that dwelleth.” If we only run into the Secret Place now and again, we can scarcely be said to dwell there. God will come to our rescue whenever we pray, but if we seldom think of Him, we may experience difficulty in making our contact in an emergency. By means of daily meditation we dwell in the Secret Place.
It is this writer’s prayer that each of us seek this dwelling place in the shadow of God’s love. When we find it, and abide in it, wherever it may be, it will be the Eden God created for us.
Seeking Eden,
Z gardener

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Why not organize the business of living in a big way? Why creep along, as some people do, from one tiny stepping stone to another, instead of striding out boldly? Why be content with poor health, uninteresting work, or restricted conditions, when many other people have already risen above these things?
 
There is a way out of limitation that never fails. It is this, take God for your partner. If you will really make God your business partner in every department of your life, you will be amazed at the quick and striking results that you will obtain. Of course, if you want God to be your partner, you will have to include Him in every corner and every phase of your life.
 
Most people would be thrilled to be able to go into partnership with some great industrial or financial magnate; they would feel that their future was assured. But here is a partnership with Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Power awaiting you.
 
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).
When we put God’s will before our own, we take God as a partner. Then, like any good partner, we must fulfill our part of the partnership agreement. Our part is to diligently and intentionally follow God’s business plan for our lives. This is not easy and will be a life-long project. Failure will be met along the way. But, if we stay the course, return to the path when we stray and never quit, we will have the opportunity to live in peace, joy and hope.
Striving to abide,
Z gardener

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I Am That I Am

 
And… there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud…(Exodus 19:16).
 
These are dramatic expressions of the change of consciousness as we move away from the common things of life to the higher things.
 
In these days of the Exodus, the conditions of the outer world answered very quickly to man’s thoughts because people believed it was possible. Moses took his people across the Red Sea by the power of thought, and he was able to do that because in those days people believed in the power of thought. They believed that God could take them across the Red Sea dry shod, and He did.
 
Moses had the true knowledge of God from his father’s people, the Hebrews. It was the historical mission of the Hebrews to teach that God is not a limited, corporeal being, but incorporeal, infinite, divine mind.
 
Moses saw clearly the unity of God and man, and the unity of man and man. He got more than a flash of what we call the cosmic consciousness. That was his illumination. Then he realized that he must give this to humanity.
It occurs to this writer that our consciousness is the manifestation of the “I Am” in humans. It is God’s consciousness manifesting itself in the material, historical world. Each human birth is a new bud of God-consciousness sprouting through the veil into sensory physical existence; allowing true communion between God and the creation. It is God’s way of living in the material world.
This communion is realized when, as infants, we first become self-conscious beings; opening the door to become God-conscious beings who recognize their true nature as children of God. That’s when we become one with God, and when we can say as a  child of God, “I truly know who I Am”.
I Am,
Z gardener

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Thou shalt not covet…any thing that is thy neighbour’s (Exodus 20:17).

 
There are several phrases concerning coveting. You are not to covet your neighbor’s house, nor his wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is his. Much of the evil in the world is caused by wanting something to which one is not entitled. Moses knew what covetousness does to us in what we call today the unconscious or the subconscious.
 
Coveting affects the soul of man. Even if your coveting never leads you to take anything that does not belong to you, it undermines and ultimately rots your soul. It shuts you off from God. Why? Because to covet something means that you do not understand the Law of Being. You do not understand that whatever you are getting or lacking is the out-picturing and expression of your consciousness. Until you understand that you cannot be saved.
 
There is not anything in the world that you ever conceived of that God has not got in abundance. God’s supply is infinite, and to envy someone else because he seems to have more is to deny your own contact with God.
To recognize and accept God’s limitless abundance is not an easy task. Firstly, it means that any sense of lacking comes from within us and is basically arises from our separating ourselves from God. That usually occurs when we want something that is not according to God’s will. Secondly, it places the responsibility for correcting this on us. When we place God’s will over our own and follow God’s will, everything we need will be supplied. Lack occurs when we seek our will in opposition to God’s.
So today, let us be grateful for that which we have and for that which we do not have. Then our gratitude will rise, lifting us and all around us into the Eden God created for us.
Rising,
Z gardener

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Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor (Exodus 20:16).
 
First, the obvious meaning is very important although it is only the beginning—do not tell lies about people
 
We have to apply this principle of not bearing false witness right throughout our lives. It is very important to practice because whatever you say about another person will happen to you, yourself. If you lie about another person—that is an unpleasant word but I am using it because is the right word—someone will lie about you. Jesus says so in the seventh chapter of Matthew, verses one and two:
 
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
 
However, the fundamental meaning of this commandment, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” Is that you always express what you are. You cannot be one thing and express another. Emerson says, “What you are shouts so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” We are always witnessing to what we are. So again, “Thou shalt not” really means “You cannot”—you cannot permanently bear false witness.
 
The true witness is the full expression of God’s man. You will be bearing true witness to your neighbor when you are regenerated in soul. What does regeneration mean? It means the building of a new soul, not correcting the old one. When you change the soul, automatically the flesh changes, the skin changes, the blood vessels and the nerves and the bones change. But regeneration must begin with a change in the soul, not with anything in the outer world.
 
When we really know these things, we shall be bearing true witness.
 
Once again; not without, but within.
Looking in,
Z gardener

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Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15).
 
Many people will say, “We always knew that we must not steal. If  we do we shall have trouble and probably wind up in prison.” All through the ages it is only the smallest percentage of human beings who have stolen. Respect for other people’s property was learned early in the history of civilization.
 
However, this most fundamental law of life means that actually we cannot steal. Anything we take that is not ours will cost infinitely more than it was worth. Further, that which is wrongfully taken does benefit the taker, it harms them. In the end, they only rob themselves.
 
These ten laws of life are things that cannot be done, and so, says the great prophet in effect, do not waste yourself or your life trying to do these things. They cannot be done. They conflict with the fundamental Law of Being.
 
When we give up trying to steal, then we shall begin to have our own. We shall come into our own rights, and when we get that, liberation will not be very far off.
 
When we raise our consciousness above the physical realm; and invest our focus, faith and action toward the spiritual world, nothing of true value can then can be stolen from us.
 
For then, that which is truly valuable, is not physical; but spiritual. Not without us, but within us. Neither will it decay or be separated from us by anything. By right of consciousness.
 
    By right,
Z gardener
 

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Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14).
 
Naturally, this commandment means what it says. The Christian standard of conduct with regard to personal purity will never be improved on. Not to commit adultery is fundamentally important because on it is founded the sanctity of the family. But, of course, there is a great deal more in it than that.
 
One of the most common Hebrew synonyms was adultery for idolatry. In the Old Testament these two words are almost always interchangeable. The worship of false gods was described as adultery. The fundamental idea behind this commandment is to have one God. As you read through the Old Testament, you will find that the idea of the adulterous woman who is unfaithful to her husband constantly means the human soul that is turning away to some other god.
Brothers and sisters, turn not away from the one true God for any god or anyone. Similarly, turn not away from those we love, and to whom we commit, for any other person or thing. Finally, let us be true to what God created us to be, and let nothing turn us from us it.
Unfailing allegiance,
Z gardener

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Thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20:13).
 
As rules of conduct, the commandments are just such “thou shalt nots” as you see written up, “No smoking” or “No thoroughfare.” But when you get behind the surface meaning, then “Thou shalt not” becomes “Thou Canst not,” without creating major problems for ourselves.
 
So this commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” is fundamentally an expression of the cosmic law that we cannot kill without killing ourselves, and the sooner we find that out the better. We are always trying to kill. However, this commandment is here to tell us that to think we can kill anything is to lay up trouble for ourselves that will have to be met and wiped out some time or other.
 
Nothing essential about us ever dies from the outside. No one can kill your character. No one can kill your peace of mind. No one can kill your business, or your reputation, or anything that is yours. You can, but nobody else can. No man or woman was ever yet destroyed from the outside.
Many people waste their lives in thinking how they are being hurt, or damaged, or injured by other people; how good they could be, what marvelous things they could do, if it were not for others. So long as you believe that, you cannot progress. As soon as you know that nobody can hurt that which is important about you, then you are free to overtake any mistakes, and to be and do the thing you want.
We are happiest and at our best when we are adding to life. Taking away from life brings us down and hurts everyone around us. We add to life when we give to others and attempt to increase the good in other’s lives. We take from life when we take  away from others and attempt to increase bad aspect of their lives.
Creating, loving, nurturing, caring and helping are the antidotes to killing, hating, neglecting, harming and hurting. Apply them liberally to our woes and watch the problems in our gardens grow into blessings.
Adding life,
Z gardener

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Polarity
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
 
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee (Exodus 20:12).
 
We should respect our parents just because they are our parents, but that teaching is just the very outer layer of this commandment. Underneath it is instruction in divine metaphysics because your real father and mother is God. When this commandment says, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” it brings in the two poles, the male and the female, and, of course, polarity is the motive power of the universe.
In the bible, mother means the feeling nature, and the father is the knowledge nature. Most people have one side or the other more developed. When our prayers fail and we do not demonstrate, we fail because we are not honoring our father and our mother.
Both our feeling and knowing selves need to be balanced in a way as to be most useful to a loving and peaceful life. It is the same with a mother and father’s influence on their children who need both discipline and nurturing, strength and tenderness, courage and caution.
Balance in all things is, in fact, is one of the most efficient ways to progress spiritually and materially. Balance enables order, growth, harmony and development because it tends to create stability. For balance to exist, their must be polarity; light and dark; up and down, in and out; good and bad. It could be argued that existence itself depends on polarity. Could we have up without down? Good without bad? Could that be one of the reasons the Bible tells us to the thankful for all things?
This can be tested easily. Today, let  us seek balance in all things, and at the end of the day let us determine how it worked. The results should yield a sufficient answer.
Seeking balance,
Z gardener

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Read Exodus 20:8-11.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8).
 
This commandment about the Sabbath Day was given to the people at the time of their leaving Egypt and going into the desert, and on the surface it meant what it said for that age. It was a wonderful thing in Moses’ day to insist that everyone set aside one day a week to think about God or at least to oblige him to stop his secular activities. No rule can make a man religious, or give him faith, but it can help.
 
Like all the other commandments, this one is instruction in seeking the presence of God everywhere, particularly where the trouble seems to be. Where there is fear and doubt He brings faith, where there is lack He brings abundance.
 
But here in this commandment about the Sabbath Day there is a still deeper meaning. When you are praying every day and recognizing that God is working in you and in all your affairs, there will be a sense in which every day will be a Sabbath, because for you every day will be a holy day. One of the most wonderful things about the Bible teaching is that we get rid of the distinction between the sacred and the secular. That is one of the most important steps in the whole history of the soul.
 
God is present everywhere. For those who understand Jesus’ teaching, it is always the Sabbath Day, and the place whereon they stand is holy ground.
Being aware of God at all times, keeps all times holy. As we raise our consciousness of God to ever higher levels in our daily reality, our daily reality increasingly becomes more spiritual and thereby, holy and sacred.
Remember God, and thereby remember the Sabbath. Therein lies Eden.
Surely remembering,
Z gardener

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