Good Morning Garden

If you seem to yourself to be lacking in certain necessary qualities, seek that aspect of God which will meet your lack. If you seem to lack strength, ask God to give you what you need. Remember you can build any quality into your mentality by meditating upon that quality every day. You have created your limited self by thinking and you can destroy it at any moment by thinking a new pattern.

Why do we not change from day to day, and week to week, from glory to glory, until our friends can scarcely recognize us for the same man or woman? Why should we not march around the world looking like gods, and feeling it; healing instantaneously all who come to us; reforming the sinner; setting captives free?

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound (Isaiah 61:1).

The good news is that God’s help is always available to help us replace our weaknesses with strengths. However, in order to seek God’s help in attaining the qualities we need but lack, we must first be able to honestly identify those weaknesses. That is really hard. It means we can’t lie to ourselves or hide from our flaws. Tough stuff.

Thinking anew,
Stan

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I do not give exercises to develop concentration. Concentrate on what you are doing at any time, that is the best exercise I know.

I remember when I was a boy about twelve years old somebody gave me a perfect peach of a jackknife. It probably weighed a quarter of a pound and there was a little saw in it, a little screwdriver, a corkscrew, a thing for getting stones out of horses’ hoofs, and several blades. I carried it for about a year thinking how handy it would be for certain cases that never came up, but it never lost its interest. I could always find, when I was bored, new interest when I took out the jackknife. If you make your search for God your jackknife in that sense, you will get you concentration and you will get your success.

Thus will I bless thee while I live … and meditate on thee in the night watches
(Psalm 63: 4, 6).

To do that which we are about at any moment with full attention, thoughtfulness and commitment to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reason is the best exercise to develop spiritual concentration. It is how we do the immediate moments that determine how we do the hours, days and years. Do the moments with full awareness of and implementation of God’s will and everything else will work out. The result is improved concentration and appropriate outcomes.

Doing now,
Z gardener

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To repent means, really, to change one’s mind concerning something. When a person realizes that a particular action, or a certain line of conduct, or perhaps the whole direction of his life, has been wrong, and honestly resolves to change his conduct, he has repented. The Bible makes true repentance an essential condition for any spiritual progress, and for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus said,
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:3).

Repentance does not mean grieving for past mistakes, because this is dwelling in the past, and our duty is to dwell in the present and make this moment right. Worrying over past mistakes is remorse, and remorse is a sin, for it is a refusal to accept God’s forgiveness.

John the Baptist said, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:2). This means that you should change your thought and know that the Presence of God is where you are.

There are few things more difficult than to recognize and accept than that we are wrong and are acting wrongly. It requires courage, strength, honesty, clarity and a burning desire to be good and to do good. Once that hurdle has been overcome, then we must repent and change what we are doing wrong. That is very hard when the wrong behavior is something we desire greatly, enjoy immensely or which is fed by deep fear. After our repentance, we must make our repentance a reality by acting in a new and better way from that point on. Once again, very difficult. In fact, these things are so difficult that our success with them is only assured by asking for God’s help and then following God’s guidance.

The Garden is waiting,
Z gardener

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Key Words In the Bible – Fear

The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the beginning of knowledge. This has misled many people, because the truth is that fear is entirely evil and is indeed the only enemy we have. You can heal any condition if you can get rid of the fear attaching to it. Trouble or sickness is nothing but subconscious fear out-pictured in our surroundings. It is true at all times that “we have nothing to fear but fear.”

How then do we account for the texts quoted? The answer is that in the Bible the fear of God means reverence for God, not fear in the usual sense of the word. Reverence for God is the beginning of wisdom. How do we show reverence for God? By seeing God everywhere, refusing to recognize anything unlike Him, and by living the Christ life.

Confidence is worship. You worship whatever you trust. Are you trusting more in fear or in God? What are you worshipping? That is the test.

Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. (Job 22:21).

When gripped with fear and paralyzed with frustration and doubt, how does one achieve peace, contentment and confidence. The answer is one doesn’t achieve it, God delivers it. The first step out of fear is not a step but a prayer. When we turn our eyes to God and ask for help, the process has begun.Then, if we follow God’s will and direction, we are granted relief and then hope and then confidence for that day. This does not eliminate the problem, but gives us a way to overcome it day by day.

Praying first,
Stan

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Don’t be a grave robber. Let corpses alone. In due course nature disposes of such remains, if they are left undisturbed. Every time you dig up an old grievance or an old mistake by rehearsing it in your mind or, still worse, by telling someone else about it, you are simply ripping open a grave – and you know what you may expect to find.

Live the present. Prepare intelligently for the future – and let the past alone. This is what Jesus meant when he said,… “ let the dead bury the dead. (Matthew 8:22).

Make a law for yourself today that you are not going to touch mentally any negative thing that has happened up to the present moment – and keep that law. Life is too precious for grave robbing. The past is past – liquidate it. If a negative memory comes into your mind, cremate it with the right thought (the fire of Love) and forget it.

How much better our lives would be if we followed this advice. How much emotional baggage we could jettison if we let go of the moving van full of resentments and hurts that we pull around behind us wherever we go. How free we would be to enjoy the beauty and blessings around us if not viewed through the prism of past wrongs. As an Easter promise to ourselves and others, let us leave the dead and decaying past in the grave and live into the new and living present, forgiven and restored to our God-given place in the garden.

Looking forward,
Stan

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Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you… Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

This true, interior soul-peace was known to the mystics as serenity, and they are never tired of telling us that serenity is the grand passport to the Presence of God—the sea as smooth as glass that is round about the Great White Throne. This is not to say that one cannot tackle even the most serious difficulties by prayer without having any serenity at all. But before you can make any true spiritual progress you must achieve serenity; and it is that fundamental tranquility of soul that Jesus refers to by the word peace—the peace that passes all human understanding.

The Peacemakers are those who bring about this peace in their own souls; they surmount limitation and become actually, not merely potentially, the children of God. This condition of mind is the objective at which Jesus aims.

Of course, to be a peacemaker in the usual sense of composing the quarrels of other people is an excellent thing; but, as all practical people know, an excessively difficult role to fill. But once you understand the power of prayer, you will be able to heal many quarrels in the true way; probably without speaking at all. The silent thought of the All-Power of Love and Wisdom will cause trouble to melt away almost imperceptibly. You will become a peacemaker.

When our hearts are troubled, and when we are afraid, peace can seem like a mirage or a dream that melts away under the flames of fear or the heartbreak of burdens seemingly to great to bear. Yet, just as the sun shines above each storm in our lives, God’s love is always there, shining down. The key is to fully realize that and live as if that sun is shining on our faces, even as the winds howl, the torrents fall and the darkness fills us with fear and helplessness.

Seeking peace within,
Z gardener

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The world is not going to the dogs. The human race is not doomed. Civilization is not going to crash. The captain is on the bridge. Humanity is going through a difficult time, but humanity has gone through difficulties many times before in its long history and has always come through, strengthened and purified.

Do not worry yourself about the universe collapsing. It is not going to collapse, and anyway that question is none of your business. The captain is on the bridge. If the survival of humanity depended upon you or me, it would be a poor lookout for the Great Enterprise, would it not?

The captain is on the bridge. God is still in business. All that you have to do is to realize the Presence of God where the trouble seems to be, to do your nearest duty to the very best of your ability; and to keep an even mind until the storm is over.

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalm 119:165).

What a comfort it is to know that the creator of the universe is watching out for each and every one of us and for all of us. That comfort rises to the level of peace when we obey God’s will and live according to God’s laws. Such peace also allows us to overcome life’s unpleasantness and challenges while living in love, faith, joy, gladness and hope. When we know and fully accept that everything which happens to us is meant to be, or can be made to be for our best good, then obstacles become opportunities and challenges become victories. And, life then can become a garden filled with beautiful and healthy life that nurtures us and fills our days with peace, beauty and bounty.

Following the Captain,
Z gardener

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Most hotel rooms are furnished with a notice that says “do not disturb.” The guest has only to hang this outside the door and he can sleep in peace as long as he wishes. Some people appear to have hung such a notice on their brains; they deeply resent anything like a new idea, or even a new and better way of considering familiar things. They are slumbering away their lives in a kind of semi-coma; repeating mechanically the time worn phrases and threadbare ideas of the past. Not dead, but sleepeth, might very well be said of them, and, indeed, their consciousness is a mental cemetery.

If you have been sleeping like this, pull yourself together, rub the mental sleep from your eyes. Now is the day of salvation. Start right in today to handle at least one important part of your life in a new way. Break at least one rusty fetter today, and once this process begins you will be astonished to find how far you will go, and what wonderful things you will attain to.

Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (Ephesians 5:14)

While this writer believes the scripture above refers those who have died and are awaiting heaven, the point of the piece is well taken. A wise man once responded to the question, “what were they thinking?” with the observation that the question assumes they were thinking. How many times do we just go through our days or certain circumstances without much thought at all? How often do we just act or react based on our preconceived ideas without taking time to really think about our lives or what we are doing?

Carpe Diem,
Z gardener

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As children of the Most High we have a divine heritage and therefore a right to expect that God will take care of us in every way. The Bible is full of promises as to what God will do for His children, but perhaps Jesus put it the most plainly when he said,

What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:9-11).

So you have a divine right to expect all these good things from God. But what does God expect of us? Well, God has a right to expect that we will put Him first in our hearts. Then God expects us to have a lively faith. Faith in itself is a reliance upon the goodness of God.

And lastly, God expects us to go to Him in prayer — as a son who knows that even before he has asked, the loving Father has answered.

Putting God first, practicing our faith and relying on God sounds like fairly simple propositions, and they are. Doing these things however, is anything but simple and are among the most difficult things we can attempt. For it is human nature to put ourselves first, to put our wants before our faith and to rely on ourselves for our needs. So, we must overcome basic human nature and rise above human weakness and self-centeredness if we are to do that which God expects of us.

God first,
Z gardener

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