Good Morning Garden

Really there are only two feelings that a human being can have, namely love and fear. It is generally supposed that the kinds of feeling we may have are legion, but this is an illusion. All other feelings, so-called, will turn out upon analysis to be either love or fear.

What about anger? Well, anger is really but fear in disguise. In chemistry we occasionally find the same substance occurring under completely different appearances. For example, black lead is exactly the same substance chemically as a diamond, different as they look. They are said to be allotropic forms of carbon. In the same way, anger, hatred, jealousy, criticism, egotism, are but allotropic forms of fear.

Joy, interest, the feeling of success and accomplishment, the appreciation of art, are allotropic forms of love. The great difference between the two feelings is that love is always creative, and fear is always destructive. It is for us to decide which of these two feelings shall hold sway in our lives.

God is love; and he that dwelleth in God, and God in Him (1 John 4:16).

Whether it is love or fear we feel, the feeling itself is our choice. No one and no circumstance dictates how we feel. Of all the things in the world that we can not control, what we think and how we feel is totally under our control. Granted, there are circumstances in which is is extremely difficult not to give in to fear, and many in which it is equally difficult to feel love. Yet it is incontrovertibly true that we have a choice. It is equally true that without God’s help, strength and guidance, we will many times be unable to choose love when we want to fear.

Z gardener

Author’s note:We are blessed to be joined in the Good Morning Garden by a new group today. They are young men and women who put their faith into practice by doing good for others in Christian brother(and sister)hood. They are a credit to their faith, families and communities and will be for many decades to come. Welcome to the Garden brothers and sisters. May your presence here be a well-deserved blessing to you. It is to this author.

Z

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Jesus said, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25).

The simile used by Jesus was a graphic one for his listeners. In those days every important city was surrounded by a wall for defense. There would be a large gate in the wall and this would be closed at sunset and placed under an armed guard. There was usually, however, a low wicket gate known as the needle’s eye, set in the big door. When a laden camel arrived after sunset the only way it could get in was to be unloaded of all merchandise, whereupon it would squirm on its knees through the needle’s eye.

Unload your camel if you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You do this, of course, not by getting rid of conditions in themselves, but by getting rid of your sense of dependency on them. Very often you will find yourself so glad to be without a lot of that merchandise that you will never put it back.

How many times have we said to ourselves, “well, yes I love God, but I am not going to _______”. Things that can be used to fill in that blank are well known to us all. Many of the most common are; forgive someone again, give up doing this or that, admit we are wrong, do the right yet difficult thing, etc.

Unpacking,
Z gardener

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We live in the Presence of God. The Bible says, In him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). This limitless Power, which is Intelligence and Love/God, can be contacted at any time by turning to Him in thought, and allowing Him to fill our hearts. Whenever we do this He at once begins to influence our lives for peace and harmony and freedom.

A party of shipwrecked sailors were drifting in an open boat on the Atlantic Ocean. They had no water, and were suffering agonies from thirst. Another small boat came within hailing distance, and when the shipwrecked mariners cried out for water, the newcomers said, “let down your bucket.” This sounded like cruel mockery. But when the advice was repeated several times, one of the sailors dipped the bucket overboard, and drew up clean, fresh, sparkling water!

For several days they had been sailing through fresh water and did not know it. They were out of sight of land, but off the estuary of the Amazon, which carries fresh water many miles out to sea.

Closer is he than breathing; nearer than hands and feet. Tennyson

When we depend solely on our own abilities, powers and understanding; we limit ourselves to those things of which we are humanly capable of accomplishing. Yet, we are taught in the Bible that we are children of God and through God are capable of infinite accomplishment. In order to access the God within us, we must overcome the limited self and open ourselves to God’s power operating through us. To do this we must think on and realize God’s presence. When we let down our bucket into our soul for God’s help, we draw up and can use God’s power to accomplish that which we can not do alone.

Rising above,
Z gardener

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Many people would like to attend what they call an advanced class in metaphysics; but what could an advanced course include that would not be in the ordinary lessons?

The usual metaphysical classes teach that God is the only power, and that evil is insubstantial; that we form our own destiny by our thoughts and our beliefs; that conditions do not matter when we pray; that time and space and matter are human illusions; that there is a solution to every problem; that man is the child of God, and God is perfect good; that Jesus Christ is the one who taught the full truth about God, and actually demonstrated it.

Once the student has obtained a correct intellectual comprehension of these facts, and digested them”at least partially”, the only thing that remains for him is to develop his understanding by demonstrating them in practice.

So we see that the real advanced course is the one we give ourselves by demonstrating over the practical problems of everyday life.

Faith without works is dead (James 2:20)

While we all need to know as much as possible intellectually and subconsciously about spiritual matters, it is in the application of our faith that we grow spiritually. It is through acting on our faith that we mature and grow spiritually stronger. The child who is taught the principles of walking will never walk unless they hoist themselves up and take the first step. Even then, it is only through greater and more ambitious action that a toddler advances form the first step to walking, climbing, running and jumping.

Acting faith,
Z gardener

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When you fight a thing you antagonize it and it hits back. The harder you fight it the harder it hits. When you give your attention to anything, you are building that thing into your consciousness, for good or evil.

A story is told about William Penn. He had been accustomed from boyhood to carrying a sword because it was part of the dress of a gentleman at that period. One day it occurred to him that this was inconsistent with his Quakerism; but on the other hand he knew that he would feel extremely embarrassed without it. So he consulted George Fox, never doubting that his leader would say, “You must stop wearing it.” George Fox was silent for a few moments, and then said, “Carry thy sword until thou canst no longer carry it.” A year or so later Penn discontinued the practice quite easily.

When you are faced with some negative condition, withdraw your attention from it by building the opposite into your subconscious. Then the undesirable thing falls away like an overripe fruit.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).

There is a great and simple truth in these words. If we fill our minds with all that is good, there will be no room left for that which is undesirable. Nonresistance does not mean quitting or giving in to a negative condition. It does mean that God’s way of solving that which is negative is the only true way to conquer it.

Thinking on love,
Z gardener
Author’s note: This will be the last message for this week. The author will be walking with God and the Boy Scouts in the wondrous creation God gave us. Have a great week.

Z

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Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

Consider carefully what Jesus is saying. He is commanding us to be perfect, even as God Himself is perfect; and, as we know that Jesus will not command the impossible, he has here given his authority to the doctrine that it is possible for man to become divinely perfect. And more than this, he is putting it forward as a thing that will have to be actually done.

Now, if we really are the children of God, capable of eternal and flawless perfection, there can be no real power in evil, not even in sin, to keep us permanently in bondage. So now let us lose no further time before commencing our upward march. Let us now, at this very moment, if we have not already done so, rise up, like the prodigal son amid the husks of materiality and limitation, and cry, with all confidence in the teachings and promises of Jesus:

I will arise and go to my father (Luke 15:18).

This writer has said many times that we are incapable of living according to God’s will without divine intervention. Yet here, we are being told to be perfect. As impossible as this sounds, with God’s help, we can become perfect in love. This does not mean we will be mistake free. It does mean that we can overcome our mistakes and turn them into blessings if we think, speak and act with love. It means we can rise up and go to our Father through obedience and perseverance in love.

Perfect in love,
Z gardener

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Read Matthew 5:43-47.

But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:44-45).

Right reaction is the supreme art of life, and Jesus compressed the secret of that art into a sentence when he said: Resist not evil. A correct understanding of this commandment will regenerate your body, liberate your soul, and remake your life.

Love is God and is therefore absolutely all-powerful. Meeting hatred with love is the perfect method of self-defense in all circumstances. It renders you absolutely invulnerable to any kind of attack.

If you receive bad news, if you are unhappy in your work, or in your home, feel out mentally for the Presence of divine Spirit, all around you; affirm its actuality; and claim that God has dominion over all conditions, and you will soon be free.

And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God loves his brother also (1 John 4:21).

We have now gone from tough to nearly impossible. It is only with God’s help that we can love and bless those who hate, use or persecute us. God’s Holy Spirit and the power of God/Love are the only things that can fortify the human spirit enough to meet the standard set by Jesus’ example and his last commandment. However, with God’s help we can rise above our human spirit and return love for hate.

Z gardener

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If somebody comes into the room at home, or into the office or shop, looking as if he meant to make trouble, just try switching your attention straight to the Divine, instead of squaring up aggressively to meet the difficulty or shrinking away to avoid it, according to your temperament. You will be amused and gratified to see the anger fade from the subject’s face (which will mean that it has faded from his heart too) and quite a different expression take its place.

I have myself seen several cases where men, and on two occasions, children, were actually fighting, and upon a spectator’s “turning the cheek” the strife ceased like magic. Animals respond even more easily to this treatment than do human beings. I have seen two instances where dogs were fighting savagely and all efforts to separate them had failed, when the realization of the Presence of God’s love in all His creatures restored peace. In one case it took several minutes’ work; in the other it was practically instantaneous.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

This is a tough one! It is a real challenge for one to realize the presence of God when someone is trying to start an argument with them. However, doing so has two major benefits. It stops the offense from escalating further into a confrontation and it usually eliminates the existing conflict. The natural human response is to fight or run. Neither response solves the problem or returns the environment to a positive state.

Heaping love,
Z gardener

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Read Matthew 5:38-42.

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil. (Matthew 5:39).

Jesus is a revolutionary teacher. He turns the world upside down for those who accept his teaching. When once you have accepted the Jesus Christ message, all values change radically.

The old law was that whatever man did to man, he should himself be made to suffer by way of punishment. If he put out another man’s eye, his own was put out by the officers of justice; if he killed, he was killed.

The desire to “get even,” to get one’s own back, to level things up somehow or other, when we have been hurt or have suffered injustice, or witnessed things of which we did not approve, will remain with us until the time when we definitely take ourselves in hand and destroy it. “Revenge,” said Bacon, “is a kind of wild justice.”

Now Jesus reverses this and says that when someone injures you, you are to forgive him. No matter what the provocation may be, and no matter how many times it is repeated, you are to loose him and let him go, for thus only can you be freed yourself.

The best ways to compound the damage done by a hurt or an injustice is to hold a grudge, try to get even or strike back. As much as we may want to judge, exact revenge or “make things right”; the simple fact is that these actions will make things worse for the aggrieved.

Rising above resistance,
Z gardener

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Read Matthew 5:33-37.

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, Nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Matthew 5:33,37).

Swear not at all, is one of the cardinal points in the teaching of Jesus. It means, briefly, that you are not to mortgage your future conduct in advance; to seek to fix your conduct or your belief for tomorrow while it is yet today. Rather you are constantly to keep yourself an open channel for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into manifestation through you.

Of course, Jesus does not mean that you are not to enter into ordinary business engagements. Nor does he mean that the ordinary oath administered in a court of law is inadmissible. These things are matters of legal convenience. The Sermon on the Mount is a treatise on the spiritual life, for the spiritual life controls all the rest.

This writer has often commented that words are more powerful than bullets. Here the scripture is reminding us not to use words that can trap us into a rigid, self-ascribed behavior instead of being open to God’s will. It is self-elevation and denies that change is the nature of the universe. Most of the time their is a strong element of pride and ego involved as well.

Obediently,
Z gardener

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