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Posts Tagged ‘Spiritual’

The Imprisoned Splendor

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 4, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate’er you may believe.
There is an inmost center in us all,
Where truth abides in fullness; and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh it in,
This perfect, clear perception—which is truth.

A baffling and perverting carnal mesh
Binds it, and makes all error; and to know,
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape,
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.

—Robert Browning, “Paracelsus.” Part I

…Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).

This poem is a beautiful and artful way of saying that all we seek is already within us trying to get out. Or as we say in the Good Morning Garden “As within, so without”. When we express God’s truth, our light shines forth affecting everything around us. It is when we commune with God and obey God’s will through our faith and the Holy Spirit that we allow this light to show forth. Nothing we seek comes from without. All that we seek comes from within through God’s will and through God’s love for us. In essence, we must overcome this “baffling and perverting carnal mesh” that we call ourselves if we are to be the temple we were created to be. Then, we will radiate the love, hope and faith that God placed in the “inmost center in us all”.

Radiating light,

Z gardener

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Persistence Brings Results

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on May 1, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Prayer is the one thing that can make a change in your life. If you will go direct to God in simple, affirmative prayer, you can heal your body, bring peace and harmony into your life, and make well-being a reality.   Sometimes discouragement sets in when the answer does not come immediately but God is working on the unseen plane and our part is to be persistent. Persistence in prayer is an expression of our faith, for by our persistence we are affirming our belief that God will make his answer plain.   …Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. (Luke 18:1).

The key words here “persistence” and “affirmative prayer”, have two essential elements. One elemen t is that we should always pray. Whether we feel like it or not. When we are discouraged, sick, tired or angry we may not feel like praying. Yet these are the times it is most important. Even when our faith is weak, if we continue to pray, God will provide a way through all weakness and troubles.

The other key is that we should pray affirmatively. This does not mean asking God to do something each day until we get what we want. That demonstrates a lack of faith. It does mean visualizing, accepting, believing and affirming that God is working his will in our lives toward our best good. This is especially important when we find ourselves in doubt, difficulty, despair or desperation. When we truly believe that God is working in our lives, we can know that whatever is happening to us has a blessing within it. This faith empowers us to look for this blessing and enables us to have the courage, strength and confidence to accept the blessing and enjoy its benefits. In short, we can be filled with hope and confidence, even in the midst of our challenges.

So let us pray and affirm each day that God is with us and that he will is working in our lives to lift us up and to address our needs for our best good. Let us pray that God’s will be made known to us and that we have peace, joy and gladness each day in the Garden God created for us. Let us affirm each day that the Almighty God who loves us, sees all and knows all, is guiding us and shaping our reality into the Eden that waits each day for us.

Praying with persistence,

Z gardener

Author’s note: Below is a picture of the original Good Morning Garden. Although it represents Eden, it is actually just a courtyard behind the house.

Z

 

good-morning-garden-final

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No Results without Prayer

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 30, 2009| 4 Comments »

There is only one way to make spiritual progress, and that is to practice the Presence of God. Mankind is continually seeking to discover a shortcut but as usual the lazy man takes the most pains in the long run, and having wasted his time in wandering up bypaths, he is ultimately driven by failure and suffering to the realization of the grand truth that there is no substitute for prayer; that is, the conscious dwelling upon the Being of God.
 
If your intuitive nature is well developed, you will seldom need to use formal statements at all. This is excellent – for who will trouble to climb a ladder when he is strong enough to leap over the wall?
 
But it must not be overlooked that very many people do all their work with formal statements of Truth, and get consistently good results by working in this way. Not through repeating affirmations like a parrot. Those who work like a parrot inevitably make the parrot’s demonstration – they remain in the cage. Of a good worker who used the same phrases many times it was said by a friend: “He constantly uses the old affirmations, but he stuffs them with fresh feeling every time.”
 
The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth (Psalm 145:18).

Prayer requires no pre-conditions. One does not have to “know how to pray”, feel God’s presence, be a church member, be educated in the scriptures or even be baptized, to pray and to believe in God. All one has to do is reach out to God (thereby affirming his existence), ask for God’s will to be done in one’s life and then act as if one’s prayer has been answered. Acting as if one’s prayers are being answered does require following God’s will in our thoughts, word and deeds.

 

This does not mean one has to be perfect or free from temptation. It does mean one has to reject temptation and negative behavior and when one succumbs to it, to repent and ask for forgiveness to start anew. This is commonly referred to as a leap of faith. Faith is the belief in things unseen. And though one may not see a burning bush or the parting of the sea, one will experience God’s presence in their lives and will see God’s hand at work in their lives. These manifestations of God will move us toward peace, joy and gladness so we can live a fulfilled existence in the Eden God created for us.

Praying in peace,

Z gardener

Author’s note – Today a new friend joins us in the Good Morning Garden. He is a very special and gentle spirit who occupies a beautiful place in the hearts of many. He is facing a life-threatening illness and needs our loving prayers and supplications. Please ask God that it be God’s will that he receive the miracle of God’s healing presence, and that he walk with God in peace, comfort, courage and hope. Thank you in advance for keeping this precious one in your prayers.

Z

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Dealing with the Negative

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

What is meant by negative thinking? A negative thought is any thought of failure, disappointment, or trouble; any thought of criticism, or spite, or jealousy, or condemnation of others, or self-condemnation; any thought of sickness or accident; or, in short, any kind of limitation. In practice you will never have any trouble in knowing whether a given thought is positive or negative. Even if your brain tries to deceive you, your heart will whisper the truth.

 
Second, you must be quite clear that what this scheme calls for is that you shall not dwell upon negative things. It is not the thoughts that come to you that matter, but only such of them as you choose to entertain and dwell upon. Many negative thoughts will come to you all day long. Some will be given to you by other people, or you will hear disagreeable news. These things, however, do not matter so long as you do not entertain them. An analogy is furnished by the case of a man who is sitting by an open fire when a red-hot cinder flies out and falls on his sleeve. If he blows that cinder off at once, without a moment’s delay to think about it, no harm is done. But if he allows it to rest on him for a single moment, under any pretense, the mischief is done, and it will be a troublesome task to repair that sleeve. So it is with a negative thought.
 
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. (Acts 8:22).
 
People often find that the starting of this seven-day mental diet seems to stir up difficulties. It seems as though everything begins to go wrong at once. This may be disconcerting, but it is really a good sign. Suppose your whole world seems to rock on its foundations. Hold on steadily, let it rock, and when the rocking is over, the picture will have reassembled itself into something much nearer to your heart’s desire.
 
Do not tell anyone else that you are on a diet. Remember that your soul should be the Secret Place of the Most High. When you have secured your new mentality, then tell the story to anyone else whom you think is likely to be helped by it.

Think good, think God,

Z gardener

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Watch and Work

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

To train yourself in the habit of thought selection will be difficult for the first few days, but it is the most interesting experiment that you could possibly make. You will be amazed at the things that you will learn about yourself. This week may be the most significant week in your whole life; not only will you be able to face your present difficulties in a better spirit, but the difficulties will go. You cannot change conditions directly—you have often tried to do so and failed—but go on the seven-day mental diet and conditions must change for you.

 
This then is your prescription. For seven days you must not allow yourself to dwell for a moment on any kind of negative thought. You must watch yourself for a week and must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind. This discipline will be so strenuous that you could not maintain it consciously for much more than a week, but a week will be enough, because by that time the habit of positive thinking will begin to be established. Some changes for the better will have come into your life, encouraging you enormously, and then the new way of life will be so attractive that you will find your mentality aligning itself almost automatically.
 
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41).
It may seem an impossible task to think only positive thoughts for an entire week. In fact, without God’s help, it is impossible. Discovery of that truth is one of the main reasons to engage in the seven day mental diet. God does not want us to be worrying, fretting, fearing or being angry, sad or judgmental. God created an Eden for us to live in, yet our negative thoughts block us from fully living in our Garden. When we turn to God and ask for help, we then tap into our relationship with God and the Creator’s power and will flows through us into our world. It is through this relationship that we are able to lift our thoughts words and deeds into the positive realm and are then able to live in our gardens. May God bless each of us as we journey into this new positive reality we will create through and by God.

In joy,

Z gardener

 

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Training Your Thoughts

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Thought is the real causative force in life, and there is no other. You cannot have one kind of mind and another kind of environment. You cannot change your environment while leaving your mind unchanged. This is the real key to life; if you change your mind your conditions must change too—your body must change, your activities must change; your home must change; the color tone of your whole life must change.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind… (Romans 12:2).
This may be called the Great Cosmic Law. The practical difficulty in applying it arises from the fact that our thoughts are so close to us that it is difficult, without a little practice, to stand back and look at them objectively. Yet that is just what you must learn to do. You must train yourself to choose the subject of your thinking at any given time, and also to choose the emotional tone.
If you are not determined to start in now and carefully select all day the kind of thoughts that you are going to think, you may as well give up all hope of shaping your life into the kind of things that you want it to be. The way to start on a seven-day mental diet is to begin now.
Make no mistake about, this is work. It is the mental equivalent of digging up all the foundations of your home and rebuilding it from the ground up. But unless we understand and practice this principle, our lives will be as a castle built on sand that can be washed away with each tide. When we are controlling out thoughts and emotions and directing them to God and good, then our lives are on an immovable rock foundation that will with stand even the greatest storms. We will then be at peace in our lives and whatever difficulties we face will not cause us doubt, fear or anger. Further, it will give us the hope, confidence and strength to count our blessings and live each day in appreciation for all our gifts and for another day of life.

On the Rock,

Stan

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The Seven Day Mental Diet

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The subject of diet is one of the foremost topics of the present day public interest. Newspaper and magazines teem with articles and bookshops are filled with volumes unfolding the mysteries of proteins and vitamins. Experts are saying that you become the thing you eat.  This is perfectly true, as far as it goes, but I am going to deal with the subject of dieting at a level infinitely more profound and far reaching in its effect – mental dieting.

 
The food you furnish your mind determines the character of your life. The subjects that you allow your mind to dwell upon, make your surroundings what they are. As thy days, so shall thy strength be (Deuteronomy 33:25), which in modern language may be translated “as thy thoughts so shall thy life be.”
 
Everything in your life today – the state of your body, the state of your fortune, the state of your home, the present condition of every phase of you life – is entirely conditioned by the habitual tone of your past thinking. And the condition of your life next week, and next year, will be conditioned by the thoughts and feelings that you entertain from now onward. In other words, you choose your life.

Making a commitment to control our thoughts and keeping a positive mental state at all times is one of the hardest things we will ever try to do. Decades of mental habits will not be overcome quickly or easily. However, the benefits of such a commitment will be dramatic and immediate. One of the first benefits will be a keen awareness of how much our thoughts are in the negative column. Another immediate change will be reflected in noticeable improvements in our own spirits, attitudes and personal environment. We will experience diminished stress, increased peace and our lives will go much smoother. All of the benefits of this way of thinking will work together to create and nurture our Gardens, where we can fully experience the joy and wonder that God gave us. As hard as this experiement will be, the benefits will dwarf the investment in the first week. In the words of the old television commercial, “Try it, you’ll like it”.

On the diet,

Z gardener

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Blessing and Cursing

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 23, 2009| 2 Comments »

Life is a reflex of mental states. As far as you are concerned, the character that things will bear will be the character that you first impress upon them. Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you. If you put your condemnation upon anything in life, it will hit back at you and hurt you. If you bless any situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time it will gradually fade out.

 
Bless your body. If there is anything wrong with a particular organ, bless that organ. Bless your home. Bless your business. Bless your associates. Turn any seeming enemies into friends by blessing them. Bless the climate. Bless the town, and the state, and the country.
 
Bless a thing and it will bless you.
 
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11).

How strange it seems to bless that which plagues us, yet that is the way to turn any negative into a positive. If we keep in mind that the nature of anything we experience is determined by our thoughts about it, then it makes sense to bless that which curses us. Beyond that, we should ask ourselves whether we want to spend our days blessing or cursing things. From either point of view, the answer seems clear. Blessing all things around us is a sure way to spend more time in our Garden in peace, harmony and joy.

Blessing the days and ways,

Z gardener

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Let God Have Your Burden

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Once you have contacted the Power within, and have allowed it to take over your responsibilities for you, it will direct and govern all your affairs from the greatest to the least without mistakes. The government shall be upon his shoulder. You are tired, and driven, and worried, and weak, and ill, and depressed, because you have been trying to carry the government upon your own shoulder; the burden is too much for you, and you have broken down under it. Now, immediately you hand over yourself-government, that is, the burden of making a living, or of healing your body, or erasing your mistakes, to the Child. He, the Tireless One, The All-Powerful, the All Wise, the All Resourceful, assumes it with joy; and your difficulties have seen the beginning of the end.

 
Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee… (Psalm 55:22).

In order for God to govern our lives, we must turn over control to God. That means we must decide that God is directing our lives and that we will follow God’s will in all ways. It does not mean we can pick and choose when to obey God. It is easy to obey God when obedience is something we want to do. It is much harder when obedience requires us to do that which we fear, dislike or when it requires us not to do things we like, cherish and want to continue doing. These times are when it is most important to obey. God can and will lift all our burdens, resolve all our challenges and strengthen us to do our part here below if we truly turn over our self-governance to God in all things.

Let God,

Stan

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The Lost Corot

Posted in Good Morning, tagged , on April 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

There is a quaint old legend that is firmly believed in the artists’ colony in Paris. It appears that many years ago a poor struggling artist was so hard up that he did not have even enough money to buy a piece of canvas upon which to paint what he did felt sure would be a masterpiece. Going along the quays he saw an old daub selling for a few sous, frame included. It was supposed to represent Napoleon III in full dress uniform, and doubtless had adorned some wall in the days of the Second Empire. That artist decided that he could clean off the picture and use the canvas for his own work.

 
Arrived home, he proceeded to remove Napoleon III, not a difficult task, and to his astonishment found that there was another picture underneath. The last artist had not even removed the original but simply worked over it. When the last traces of Napoleon III had disappeared, the student was amazed to discover what looked to him like a very fine Corot. Of course, his days of poverty were ended.
 
Whether this story be truth or fable, it is a perfect allegory of the nature of man as we know him. Outside we find the “marred image” showing limitation, sin, sickness, and inharmony—the unskilled daub; but underneath is the masterwork of the Great Artist, and our prayers act by clearing away the false accretions—the “many inventions” of the carnal mind—that the already existing Truth and harmony may appear.
 
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Each of us is a masterpiece created by God. Our job is to reveal that masterpiece by living our lives according to God’s will. As we do this, the true beauty of our spirits show forth, and we see clearly that we are perfect creations of God. Once we remove our self-imposed image and reveal the true self, we then will know the true value of our lives and the great care with which the master artist rendered every brush stroke of our being. Then we can create a masterpiece of our lives as God intended when he created us. 

Seeking the masterpiece,

Z gardener

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