How easy it is to get upset, eat poorly, sleep little, stay uptight and take care of everything except yourself. After all, this is the modern life and we really don’t have any choice, right? Wrong. The life we live is about the only thing in this world we do have the ability to control. If we make an affirmative decision today that we will take control of our lives and with God’s help and direction, follow his will, then all these things we must to do be and stay healthy will come to us. Our world will yield to our will when it id based on God’s will for us. We should ask ourselves, “how much good can we do for our families, friends and business associates if we are tired, sick, weak and angry?” The answer is clear.

In health,
Stan 

How many times have each of us said one of the things below? Why? Because growth is change and change puts many of us outside our comfort zone. Even the most adventurous among us seek the comfort and the security of a stable environment. Yet growth demands change, and if we are to experience it we must forego the warm and undemanding bed of mediocrity. And, we must not settle into the cozy recliner of self rationalization, excuses and finger pointing. It is when we face the stiff winds of personal responsibility, clear self analysis and humility that we experience new growth and expand our horizons.

Against the wind,

Z Gardener

The surest way to destroy ourselves is to destroy everything around us. If we want to ensure our own failure, all we must do is ensure the failure of those people and things we touch. Then if we refuse to accept personal responsibility, fail to plan for better things and deny the help and existence of God, we can be assured that troubles and failure will become a permanent part of our lives. The choice is ours to make. Will we chose the Garden or the desert?

Choosing the Garden,
Z Gardener

We spend a lot of time in these morning thoughts about living joyfully in the Garden God gave us. These next few mornings we will reflect on how to assure unhappiness and sorrow in our lives. While not uplifting, these observations are meant to be instructive and preventative. Hopefully they will help us avoid the most common pitfalls and help us realize the true path to joy through following God’s will for our livers.

Z Gardener

All that we seek is within us to be found through communion with He that made us, saved us and redeemed us. If we will fix everything on the inside, everything on the outside will be well.

Still fixing,

Z Gardener

Seeking forgiveness,

Z Gardener

The bible says “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”. Sometimes we question why our prayers are not answered, or why we have not manifested God’s promises in our lives or why we are beset by troubles. Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions. Maybe the question should be, “are we prepared to receive God’s promise, or the answer to our prayers or relief from our troubles?” To live in the Eden God has given us; we must release the self, eliminate negative thought and action, and accept the spiritual nature of our existence. Until then, we are the answer to the questions above.

Preparing the way,
Z Gardener

            There is nothing in the universe that you cannot do or be if you are mentally ready. People speak of golden opportunities but what we call opportunity is really our own mental readiness. Napoleon said, “Opportunities? I make opportunities”; and while this would be merely a vainglorious boast for one who is not on the spiritual basis, yet when you do understand the Truth of Being, it is simply a statement of fact. The Romans could have had the telephone; the Greeks could have had the cinema; the Babylonians could have had the automobile—had they been mentally ready. The laws of nature were the same in those ages as in ours, the same materials were in the ground—but the minds of the Ancients were not ready for those things, and so they had to go without them.

We all have certain behaviors in which we engage that just seem too good, too important or too much a part of our being to consider giving up. But we know in our hearts that these behaviors block us from full communion with God, from becoming our best selves and from fulfilling the purpose we were created to accomplish. These behaviors may be life long habits, ways of thinking or a set of priorities. Some of them may actually lift us up to a certain point, but them limit us from achieving the ultimate destination we seek. These behaviors are like a hot air balloon that is tethered to the ground. It is safe, but can only achieve limited altitude. If we are to soar to the heavens we must cut those lines that tie us down and limit our development.

In the balloon,
Z Gardener