You Are the Reaper

I think I am ready for a divinely abundant harvest! How about you? This is the perfect day to sow the seeds of joy, peace and love! The mind/heart is a wonderful thing to nurture! What a powerful thing to ponder and to know; that we are both the one who sows and the one who reaps in this life.

Gardening…I am not sure how green my thumb really is. More than a few plants have withered on my watch. Well, today is a new day! I have faith in transformation, and in growth! I can change! I can be a better gardner. My mind is my own, so I can take control of my thoughts and take control of my life. That is power, and I claim that. The moment is always ripe for a new beginning!

So, how shall we begin this’ sowing of joy, peace, and love’? How do we till the sacred ground of the mind and heart? How to have a renewed mind, as we are commanded? “For as a man thinketh, so is he…” Proverbs 23:7

As the saying goes, “Victory starts with a plan!” We do get what we think about most, so designing a plan for a better future sounds great to me!

Design the garden… envision what existing in peaceful, joyful, loving mindset feels like. Select the seeds for planting… love, peace, joy. Maybe dig up and pull out the old lawn… or rather worn-out perceptions of who we are, who others are as well as perceptions of the very realm we exist in. Build the lawn for gardening… reading scripture, prayer; connecting with God daily to create a very healthy environment for the seeds to grow. Now it’s time to plant the seeds! Thoughts of joy, peace, love. Ask God daily to renew the mind in Christ, in order to be free to live in joy, peace and love.

Is this overly-optimistic, to believe in creating a better world by creating a better mind? Nah! I refuse to believe in defeat and misery. Or to believe that my perceptions of myself are all that I am; that would be so limiting! I am so much more! I know that you are, as well. This place we live in is so much more than the labels we have given it. I am sure that Heaven is way grander than anything we have imagined. Well, I choose faith! I choose to live a life of willingness to be transformed by God’s joy, God’s peace, God’s love. All things are possible through Christ who strengthens me!

So, while our moments may present challenge and trial, faith says that every day is perfect for sowing joy, peace and love. We can really design a victorious life we love to live, and be content no matter the circumstances by working efficiently on the garden of the heart and mind. We can redefine ourselves, life, success to align with God’s definitions, leaving behind the deluded definitions of the world. Therein lies victory.

Corinthians 15:57” But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Victory is yours for the sowing.

Shame… Such a Dirty Word!

I don’t know how it is for you… but this word ‘shame’ brings all sorts of sinful ideas to my mind. Shame also brings memories of isolation from family, friends and from God. Even from myself, if I really think about it. My heart gets a bit heavy with the weight of the word.

Religion, politics, school, parenting, childhood, sex….. wow! So very many of my core experiences have been tainted with the ugliness of shame. Has that been your experience as well?

Has this burden of shame driven me to rebellion, and to self-loathing? To apathy and to feeling that I cannot help myself overcome? I remember keenly those very dark, painful moments in which I saw no hope in life, no reason to live. Could it be that these moments trace back to thoughts and emotions of shame? Still running though my veins… living in my cells? Some bad program left running unchecked?

Someone is to blame for this corruption of God’s creation. I heard that, “Men are that they might have joy.” And shame ain’t joy! So then, who has been planting these things into our psyche? Who thought that was a great idea? I want to blame the devil… kinda like Eve did, in the Garden of Eden. I suppose that is the easy thing to do… but then, “Who or what is the devil, and how does this being get us to experience shame and all of its echoing treachery?”

Voices in my head. Shaming. Shaming voices in my head… My mother’s, my ex’s, family, friends, tv commercials and stars, religious leaders, teachers… and even my own as I parented my children. Did I really use shame to manipulate them? Ug, yes, yes I did. This is a bitter tasting morsel, but I think I may have some apologizing to do.

I wonder how often the painful emotion of shame is at the root of addiction? The root of divorce? The root of giving up on our dreams?

If we are to grow up, individually and as a society, then we do need to take responsibility for the ideas we have today. We can choose thoughts and emotions that bring peace, love, joy, satisfaction, dignity. We can choose to process and overcome shame. We cannot change whom nor how our little heart-mind computers were programmed in our early years; however, we can choose to reprogram ourselves today! To live a life of dignity and not of shame. We can find our place in the universe and serve our purpose with duty.

Maybe shame wants to be noticed, seen, felt, processed… and let go of. Maybe there is no-one to blame; only situations, people, ideas, words to observe and to learn from. Maybe it was shame that made me desperate enough to see how helpless I am without God. Not giving shame the credit… but maybe it played some significant role in my seeking Truth and salvation. Maybe ‘shame’ does not have to be such a dirty word anymore because it led me to the Refiner’s fire where I am being made pure.

Will society decide to not shame one another? Best not wait on that train. However, We can take our own power by raising our thoughts, emotions, vibrations individually and impact the collective. All things are possible through Christ.

I choose to allow the darkness to show me the Light, and I glorify God as He leads me through it all.

Fear

How could I trust you so much, and you let me down like this? Why did I think you were such a good friend to me? You were nothing but a lie. You tell me to compare myself with others and to hate myself for not being enough. Fear, you tell me I cannot accomplish my goals, that I will not succeed, nor be free. You tell me there is only lack, when I have never gone without. You color my vision of who I am. You ruin all of my relationships, my endeavors, and all of my days. You take away my hope, my dreams, my time. Fear, you use me and you abuse me! You laugh in my face! You treat me like a foolish child! Fear, you lie! You cheat! You steal. The time for you to go is now.

Fear, you shall not win! You are toxic, not a friend. You do not keep me safe, you keep me dead. I refuse to be defeated. I will not be used by you any more! I was created for victory! Fear, I command you to leave me, never to return! In Jesus Christ’s name!

These shackles I denounce! Newfound freedom I embrace! Let Jesus be my joy! Let peace fill my heart’s space! Let Jesus be the Lord of my mind, renewing my mind each day. I receive faith as I trust in God’s love for me. Let me not turn back to fear’s stinky ways as a dog to his vomit!

I believe that I can be enough; I believe that somehow, some way I already am. I can accomplish my goals. I am succeeding. I am free. I am abundant in God. I see myself now as made in the image of God, instead of conforming to Fear’s ideas of what that means. God is good! God is in me! I see good in myself.

I believe in Joy. I believe in Peace. I believe in Christ.