Good Morning Garden

In the depths of his being man always feels intuitively that there is a way out of his difficulties if only he can find it. The infant, as yet uncontaminated by the defeatism of his elders, simply refuses to tolerate inharmony on any terms, and therefore he demonstrates over it. When he is hungry he tells the world while many a sophisticated adult goes without. Does he find a pin sticking in some part of his anatomy? Not for him a sigh of resignation to the supposed “will of God,” or a whine about never having any luck, or a sigh that what cannot be cured must be endured. His instincts tell him that life and harmony are inseparable.

Refuse to tolerate anything less than harmony. You can have a happy and joyous life. But to do so you must seize the rudder of your own destiny and steer boldly for the port that you intend to make. What are you doing about your future?

For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified (Romans 2:13).

What we do ultimately determines who we are and how we will live. Even though we say the right things and believe the right things, they alone are insufficient to make our lives harmonious and joyful. It is in action that all our thoughts and beliefs are put to work in the physical world and in action that our perception of that world is shaped. Joy and harmony are the mental states that flow from right actions.

Accepting joy and harmony today,
Z gardener

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There is no need to be unhappy. There is no need to be disappointed, or oppressed, or aggrieved. There is no need for illness or failure or discouragement. There is no necessity for anything but an abounding interest and joy in life.

As long as you accept a negative condition at its own valuation, so long will you remain in bondage to it; but you have only to assert your birthright as a free man or woman and you will be free.

Success and happiness are the natural conditions of mankind. It is actually easier to demonstrate these things than the reverse. Bad habits of thinking and acting may obscure this fact for a time, just as a wrong way of walking or sitting, or holding a pen, or musical instrument may seem to be easier than the proper way, because we have accustomed ourselves to it; but the proper way is the easier nevertheless.

Unhappiness, frustration, poverty, loneliness are really bad habits that their victims have become accustomed to bear, believing that there is no way out, whereas there is a way; and that way is simply to acquire good habits of working with the Law instead of against it.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law (Psalm 119:18)

There is a way out. The problem is we too often don’t have eyes to see the way, or we do see and refuse to seek the way. The difficulty lies in the fact that we have to empty out our self-centered human desires and perceptions, and replace them with God-centered spiritual desires and perceptions. Many times this seems undesirable or impossible, and without God’s help it usually is.

In abundance,
Z gardener

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Your destiny depends entirely upon your own mental conduct. You may think that you know this already, but if you do not act upon it, it is certain that you do not really know it. Most people would be amazed to discover how much negative thinking they indulge in. Thought is so swift and habit is so strong that unless you are very careful you will constantly transgress.

Suppose that, quite without your knowledge, an invisible dictaphone were strapped on your shoulders the first thing tomorrow morning, and that you carried it about all day until the last thing tomorrow night. Then suppose that this record were played over to you so that every word you had uttered for a whole day was repeated to you. Well, if you are an average human being you would probably be embarrassed. Yet it really does happen that everything we say, and think and do, is recorded – in the subconscious mind – and our daily experience is simply that record being played over to us by the Law of Being.

Never forget that the circumstances of your life tomorrow are molded by your mental conduct of today.

I have chosen the way of truth…(Psalm 119:30).
The old saying that you are what you eat has a spiritual corollary. Your life is what you think. If one has ever tried to spend any amount of time without having any negative thoughts, one realizes quickly how many negative thoughts we indulge in a short time frame. We spend much of our lives as spiritual persons overcoming the world’s propensity to instill negative thinking in us. As we work to overcome this we soon find that we are unable on our own to totally overcome negativity in our thoughts, words and deeds. That revelation is the gateway to the understanding that we depend on God to ensure our capacity for love and faith. It is when we give God the reigns of leadership in our lives that we are able to stay on that narrow high path. That path leads through our gardens here below to our eternal joy above.

God dependent,
Stan

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You are continually treating your conditions with the thoughts that you hold concerning them. What you really think about anything, is your “treatment” of that thing. Many people have the idea that they are only “treating” when they call it “treating.” But no matter what you call it, your thought concerning any subject is a treatment. This is the reason visible conditions are always the expression of invisible thought.

If you will begin systematically to treat every side of your life with a series of positive, correct thoughts, and keep to this practice for even a few weeks, you will be amazed to find how much everything will change for the better.

…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…(Romans 12:2).

If we added up all our positive thoughts and negative thoughts, which pile would be higher? Selfless thoughts vs. selfish? faith vs. fear?

Treating by thinking,
Z gardener

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God’s time for your demonstration is now. The time God wants you to be healed is now. The time God wants you to be in your true place is now. The Bible says that the day of salvation is now.

God is ready the moment you are. There is nothing to wait for except the changing of your own consciousness. People often make the mistake of saying, “I know my demonstration will come at the right time.” But the only time to be harmonious and satisfied is now. The time to be happy is now and the place is here. Did not Jesus say, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, and by this he meant close by.

Do not keep yourself out of the Kingdom of Heaven by inventing postponements, but change your consciousness now, for it can all happen in a moment.

…that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11).

If we are to live in the Kingdom of God, we must adapt our consciousness and behavior to that prescribed in the Bible. We must believe in God, we must act in accordance with God’s will and we must accept the principles and priorities espoused in the Bible. When we accept Christ as our personal savior, live according to his teachings and think as he instructs, we will live in the Kingdom of God. In this kingdom, God rules and we are God’s servants. In this kingdom we are given a garden to live in and nurture. In this kingdom we are protected, lifted up and blessed in all the ways we need for our best good. Isn’t it time to awaken and claim our gardens?

Demonstrating now,
Z gardener

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We make spiritual progress by putting God into every corner of our lives. Most people on the spiritual path are willing to give God a generous portion of their lives, but there is often one little corner where they do not wish the divine Light to shine.

Bluebeard, you remember, kept open house, with the exception of one little room – and there he drew the line. His current wife, or any of the neighbors could go all over the premises and welcome, until they came to that one little room, the Bluebeard chamber, that was forbidden. Yet that one little locked-up room contained the tragedy of the house.

The contents of the Bluebeard room need not be anything that we usually call horrible. There may just be selfishness, laziness, spiritual pride, or any of the more “respectable” but very deadly sins. There may be an old grudge or bitter remorse.

Open every door of your soul to God. Have no place where the light of His presence does not shine.

The secret things belong unto the Lord our God… (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Until we open the secret rooms of our lives to God, our spiritual journey will be impeded. All of us have thought, done or said things which we want no one to know. In most cases we ourselves do not want to enter that secret room, much less have God or others know about it. Many of us continue to contribute contents to that room in our ongoing behavior but won’t admit it to ourselves. So our guilt and sin continue because we are afraid, ashamed or unwilling to open the doors and let the sun shine in.

All rooms open,
Z gardener

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Read Psalm 91.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Here the lion stands for a difficulty of which we are so afraid that it seems to us a very lion in our path, rushing at us in the open. How different, on the other hand, is the attack of the adder, or snake; for it creeps upon us in the dark. And here we are promised that our complexes, dragons though they be, shall be dissolved by the realization of God. There is nothing that can be done by any form of psychotherapy that cannot be better done by the Practice of the Presence of God.

The last three verses are in themselves a glorious psalm of ringing joy and triumph.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. There is nothing hypothetical or contingent here. The statement indicates the fixed decision – I will deliver him. And why? – because he has set his love upon me.

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. In the bible the “name” of anything means the nature or character of that thing. Now the nature of God is perfect, omnipresent, all-powerful good, boundless love; and to “know” this is to be set on high above all our difficulties.

The last two verses gather up all the implications and promises of this wonderful poem, and present them to the fearful or doubting heart as a song of triumph. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.

As we face the dangers and pitfalls of life, there is safety and security to be found in our faith. God’s love will deliver us from anything harmful and will transform negative events into glorious victories if we believe in God and obey God’s will. Not only will we be protected from harm, we will be exalted with long life and salvation. God will love us, hear us and answer us with what we need for our best good. We will be secure in our gardens to love, live and prosper.

Knowing God’s name,
Z gardener

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Read Psalm 91.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. This clause has been taken to indicate some kind of favoritism on the part of God, whereas, of course, such a thing is impossible. It means simply that those who pray are saved from trouble that would otherwise overtake them, and that does, in fact, overtake those who do not pray.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. In the Bible, the word promise is the name given to a statement of some spiritual law. So, a Bible promise is a statement of the consequences that naturally follow from certain states of consciousness. If Boyle’s law were written in the Bible idiom, it would read something like this: “As I live, saith the Lord, whenever thou shalt double the pressure of a gas, thou shalt halve the volume, temperature remaining constant.” In the language of natural science, our Bible promise would run: “ By meditating regularly on the Presence of God with you, and directing your life in accordance with that fact, you become immune from any kind of danger.”

In order to reap the benefits of these promises (laws), we must dwell in, habituate, live each day in, submission to the will of God. We can not receive the promises made above if we insist on living and thinking according to our own will and ways. Just as with all laws (promises), we must know and follow the law to enjoy the rewards. We can not ignore the law of gravity and survive, nor can we ignore God’s law and prevail when those around us fall. If we do live and dwell in God’s law each day, then we can properly tend the small garden given to us here below, and thereby demonstrate our ability to tend the larger garden waiting for us above.

Dwelling in the little garden,
Z gardener

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Read Psalm 91.

For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. This is one of the loveliest of all the promises in the Bible. For tender beauty it stands alone. He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways – and it is meant for you and for me. It might have seemed appropriate enough that some exalted Being should be given an escort of angels to surround him, to support him, to keep him in all his ways. But the Bible is the book of Everyman, and this promise is given to you and to me.

When we dwell in the shadow of God’s wings, we abide by God’s word in thought, word and deed. We accept God’s protection and our dependence on God for our welfare, guidance and salvation. It is then that God gives the angels charge over us. It is then that all things will come to us for our best good. Then, even if we do dash our foot against a stone, it will be for a good and needed purpose in our lives.

In assurance,
Z gardener

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Read Psalm 91.

And now the Word of Truth is represented as addressing you with an authoritative assurance that your prayer will be answered, that is some way or other – not necessarily in the way that you expect – you will be rescued from your difficulty.

Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wing shalt thou trust: His Truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

You are to have no apprehension, for your protection is now assured in one of those illustrations from everyday life, in which the Bible abounds. The mother hen, at the slightest threat of danger, gathers the little chicks under her wings, covering them “with her feathers”; thus does God shield you from all danger once you have elected to trust Him. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. It is the knowledge of the Truth about God and man that makes the demonstration.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. The arrow that flieth by day and the destruction that wasteth at noon refer to any difficulty of which you are consciously aware. It is, so to say, a daytime problem. The terror by night and the pestilence that walketh in darkness, on the contrary, imply something that, unknown to you, is working in your subconscious mind. Modern psychology has shown that most of our difficulties have their roots in the depth of the subconscious. These are indeed terrors of the mental night and pestilences of the darkness.

Whatever is limiting or hurting us, weighing us down or contributing to our failure, fear or lack, will be overcome when we know and fully accept the knowledge of the Truth about God and turn to God for our deliverance. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)

In truth,
Z gardener

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