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ACCEPT EACH DAY

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged on October 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

ACCEPT EACH DAY exactly as it comes to you. By that, I mean not only the circumstances of your day but also the condition of your body. Your assignment is to trust Me absolutely, resting in My sovereignty and faithfulness.

On some days, your circumstances and your physical condition feel out of balance. The demands on you seem far greater than your strength. Days like that present a choice between two alternatives—giving up or relying on Me. Even if you wrongly choose the first alternative, I will not reject you. You can turn to Me at any point, and I will help you crawl out of the mire and discouragement. I will infuse My strength into you moment by moment, giving you all that you need for this day. Trust Me by relying on My empowering presence.

Scriptures to read: Psalm 42:5; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Jeremiah 31:25

Michael & Alison Smitherman

The Singing NetSurfers

I will sing to my Lord as long as I live, I will sing

praise to my God while I have my being.

When we trust only ourselves, we have no one to fall back on when we fail or fall short. However, when we trust God, we will always have the Creator there with us to catch our fall or lift us up when we fail.

To trust God means to follow God’s directions and yield to God’s will. No matter how much one says they trust God, the proof is in the actions and feelings, not the words. So today, let us accept with grace the day we face while we turn to God for our direction and actions.

Then we will find all the strength and insight we need to live in the Eden created for us.

In God we trust,

Z gardener

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TAKE TIME TO BE STILL

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Take time to be still in My Presence. The more hassle you feel, the more you need this sacred space of communion with Me. Breathe slowly and deeply. Relax in My holy Presence while My Face shines upon you. This is how you receive My Peace, which I always proffer to you.

Imagine the pain I feel when My children tie themselves up in anxious knots, ignoring My gift of Peace. I died a criminal’s death to secure this blessing for you. Receive it gratefully; hide it in your heart. My Peace is an inner treasure, growing within you as you trust in Me. Therefore, circumstances cannot touch it. Be still, enjoying Peace in My Presence.

Psalm 46:10   “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Numbers 6:25-26   “The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Author’s note: The Good Morning Garden will begin following a new author as we take a break from the wonderfully deep and profound C.S. Lewis. The new author is writing from God/Jesus’ point of view, speaking to us, their family. They are sent to me each day from the couple who inspired the Good Morning Garden. You will see immediately where the name of the Garden originated. Thanks and blessings to the Good Morning, Lord ministry for the many times they have ministered to so many.

Being still is not easy for many of us, especially we AAA type personalities. Our culture engulfs us in a tide of busy-ness. This makes it most challenging to hear the “wee small voice” amid the din of modern life. Yet, it is in this quite voice which speaks from our depths, that God makes his will and light known to us. 

It is in the quiet mode that insight, knowledge and understanding awaken, hear and understand that voice. It is the real us speaking, and it takes disciplined effort to hear it above life’s whirl. In fact, unless it is more important than virtually anything else in our lives, most of us will hear it seldom and heed it less. 

The good news is that God put that voice in each of us. Once we turn our ears to hear it, turn or eyes to follow it and turn our hearts to love it, God promises to cover the rest. That includes the peace that most of us regard as true happiness.

Listening,

Z gardener

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BE PREPARED TO SUFFER FOR ME

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 14, 2014| 1 Comment »

BE PREPARED TO SUFFER FOR ME, in My Name. All suffering has meaning in My kingdom. Pain and problems are opportunities to demonstrate your trust in Me. Bearing your circumstances bravely–even thanking Me for them–is one of the highest forms of praise. This sacrifice of thanksgiving rings golden-toned bells of joy throughout heavenly realms. On earth also, your patient suffering sends out ripples of good tidings in ever-widening circles.

When suffering strikes, remember that I am sovereign and that I can bring good out of everything. Do not try to run from pain or hide from problems. Instead, accept adversity in My Name, offering it up to Me for My purposes. Thus, your suffering gains meaning and draws you closer to Me. Joy emerges from the ashes of adversity through your trust and thankfulness.

James 1:2-4    Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Psalm 107:21-22    Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.

Michael & Alison Smitherman

The Singing NetSurfers

I will sing to my Lord as long as I live, I will sing

praise to my God while I have my being.

It is the natural instinct of every living thing to avoid suffering and trauma. There is nothing wrong with that and in fact, that instinct is critical to survival. The key to suffering and trauma, when it does enter our lives is how we view and handle suffering.

Wen we view it as a way to express true faith through praise and thanks to God, the blessing(s) hidden within the pain emerge. Then we can see the good that comes from our suffering and perseverance. These in turn propel us further along the path of spiritual maturity. Along that path, and at it’s end, are joy, peace and oneness with our creator. 

Giving thanks,

Z gardener

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TRUST ME ENOUGH  

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 13, 2014| 1 Comment »

Trust me enough to let things happen without striving to predict or control them. Relax, and refresh yourself in the Light of My everlasting Love. My Love-Light never dims, yet you are often unaware of My radiant Presence. When you project yourself into the future, rehearsing what you will do or say, you are seeking to be self-sufficient: to be adequate without My help. This is a subtle sin–so common that it usually slips unnoticed.

The alternative is to live fully in the present, depending on Me each moment. Rather than fearing your inadequacy, rejoice in my abundant supply. Train your mind to seek My help continually, even when you feel confident to handle something by yourself. Don’t divide your life into things you can do by yourself and things that require My help. Instead, learn to rely on Me in every situation. This discipline will enable you to enjoy life more and to face each day confidently.

Psalm 37:3-6  Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

This message came today from a devotional that inspired the Good Morning Garden. This writer could not think of a better message to share today.

 Living in the present is greatly facilitated by; counting our present blessings, fully experiencing all of our present reality, learning from the past without living in it or reliving it  and anticipating future blessings by creating present blessings in doing good.

 While the ask is heavy, the rewards are the most valuable thing a person could secure. The desires of our hearts, safe pastures, justice and righteousness. That’s a good deal.

 Trusting enough,

 Z gardener

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On why we are not to know what is coming next

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I sympathize most deeply with you on the loss of Fr. Louis. But for good as well as for ill one never knows what is coming next. You remember the Imitation says ‘Bear your cross, for if you try to get rid of it you will probably find another and worse one.’ But there is a brighter side to the same principle. When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place.
All blessings and sympathy.
The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, Volume III: Narnia, Cambridge, and Joy 1950-1963. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C. S. Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
To find the blessings hidden in our pain and suffering, we must be continually looking for them and being grateful for them. And this is among the hardest things for us to do, especially when wracked by grievous hurt.
 
We are best able to keep looking and being grateful when our faith gives us the hope which blesses us with endurance to persevere while turning us into the children of God we were created to be.
 
In this process, the blessings reveal themselves according to God’s will as the good which can be found through our suffering. And we, persevering through our pain in this way, grow more like children of God. That is the greatest blessing of all.
 
On the lookout,
Z gardener

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On The Primacy Of Spiritual Sin

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 9, 2014| 1 Comment »

If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred.

For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.
Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
It seems to this writer, that spiritual sin not only corrupts the practitioner, but also all those at whom it is directed or who are exposed to it. While the sins of the flesh seems to inflict most of its harm on the practitioner. Neither is good.
Rather than parsing the differences, let us commit to eliminating both. That commitment, followed through upon and made the foundation of our lives will lift us above both types of vices and will bring us to the place that God intended us to be. It will also ensure that when we fall to vice, we will be lifted up and made better for the experience when accept the truth, we repent and turn back to God.
Turning away,
Z gardener

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On Self

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

The more we get what we now call “ourselves” out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. . . . I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call “me” can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.
Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
The fundamental premise of these devotionals is that God gave us an Eden in which to live, and the only thing keeping us out of it is us. It is called the Good Morning Garden because each day we can live in the garden called Eden.
We just have to get our “selfs” out of the way. That is also the secret to becoming the children of God we were created to be.
Being God’s child,
Z gardener

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On Goodness

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

 
Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
 
Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian. Copyright © 2007 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Being good reveals things to us that would otherwise be invisible.  It shines light, where otherwise would be darkness. It shows us a way, that without it, would be unavailable to us.
 
Sort of  like making the blind to see.
 
In blindsight,
 
Z gardener

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On Being In Love

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on October 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

If the old fairy-tale ending ‘They lived happily ever after’ is taken to mean ‘They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married’, then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be ‘in love’ need not mean ceasing to love.

Love in this second sense—love as distinct from ‘being in love’—is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be ‘in love’ with someone else.

‘Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

When the passion of the moment fades, the abiding love that remains is the that which will carry us through. This abiding love is directed at the other person, unlike momentary passion which is directed at one’s self.

While there is room for both fiery passion and abiding love, the one that abides and sustains is the true love that conquers all. It provides the fuel for the flames of passion.

Love in,

Z gardener

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On Being In Love

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on September 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

If the old fairy-tale ending ‘They lived happily ever after’ is taken to mean ‘They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married’, then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be highly undesirable if it were. Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years? What would become of your work, your appetite, your sleep, your friendships? But, of course, ceasing to be ‘in love’ need not mean ceasing to love.

Love in this second sense—love as distinct from ‘being in love’—is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by (in Christian marriages) the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God. They can have this love for each other even at those moments when they do not like each other; as you love yourself even when you do not like yourself. They can retain this love even when each would easily, if they allowed themselves, be ‘in love’ with someone else.

‘Being in love’ first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

From Mere Christianity
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis

Mere Christianity. Copyright © 1952, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright renewed © 1980, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

When the passion of the moment fades, the abiding love that remains is the that which will carry us through. This abiding love is directed at the other person, unlike momentary passion which is directed at one’s self.

While there is room for both fiery passion and abiding love, the one that abides and sustains is the true love that conquers all. It provides the fuel for the flames of passion.

Love in,

Z gardener

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