April 2020 Theme: Bright Beginnings
Feature #1: “Spring into Life: How to Plant Your Mental Garden”
By Ernest Holmes pg 72
Holmes begins his article introducing Spring in a unique way describing the glories of spring. He says Spring is the time for new beginnings of all kinds. This is nothing new to us as students of SOM is it? We are familiar with the metaphor of the seed, and soil, and the plant, right?
(Q) Are you familiar with the metaphor above?
If not, in the textbook on page 568-574 we can learn what he is talking about. This is the basics of SOM being the Divine Law.
(Q) Did you know that you are planting a seed of thought with your conscious mind versus default….or programmed…or unconscious thought?
(Q) What does Spring mean to you? List some things you remember.
Holmes tells us, “We are going to talk about…the garden of the mind, the soil of faith and the seed of hope.” Here he speaks of planting our seeds in spring. He reminds of that we plan and choose what we wish to harvest in summer. He writes, “And we wait with enthusiastic interest on a miraculous and wonder-working law for the first evidence that our seed of hope has been accepted and that we may confidently look forward to a harvest.”
Remember, if you were a farmer, you would never plant a garden and then dig it up to see if the seed you had planted was germinating and growing, would you? Of course not. This is the idea he wants you to have when once you plant the idea, then let it go knowing it is done.
(Q) Any question or doubts you want to talk about?
Holmes refers to the parable Jesus told about the sower: “Some of the seed fell on barren soil and some on good, while some fell on rocks and some were carried away by the wind. He tells us that the seed that fell into good soil increased a hundredfold.” The focus here is on where the seed is planted:
(Q) Do you see the soil of your mind as the receptive subconscious? Do you understand what it means to prepare this soil, to weed this soil and to clear it of rocks? What would be your practice for tending to the soil of your subconscious? You can now look at yourself in a new way…as a farmer. You are mindful farmers or happy gardeners!
Planting Is an Act of Faith pg 74
Holmes writes, “We are so accustomed to planting something in the earth and having it grow that we accept this miracle of nature as an ordinary event. We lay our rows and plant our seeds with a happy and enthusiastic expectancy.”
(Q) Consider, are you a happy gardener or a mindful farmer? If not why? Truth: The Divine Law will always say yes to you and respond to your seeds of thought!
The next part of the equation is important. Holmes states…”The faith you have planted in your garden is complete, it is relaxed. You do not question whether or not life will give you a harvest. Experience has taught you that it will.” Having complete faith allows you to be relaxed. It is this feeling of certainty is where you want to be just like you know the sun will come up every day. This knowing will be on a level of complete confidence, and this is the key……confidence. Holmes explains, “In preparing your mental gardens for the harvest of faith, you must break down all doubt and unbelief. You must uproot the weeds of fear. You must rake the garden free from obstructions so that your thoughts may flow freely through it. And above all else, you must cultivate a childlike faith and expectancy.”
Let me make something perfectly clear. Divine Power is all power and knows no obstruction or impediment? This leads to all of us being responsible for our thoughts and saturating our mind with Truth in cultivating faith and positive expectancy.
(Q) Are you all clear about what to do? This takes time and practice. It is not for the untrained mind. We learned in ministerial school where a trained mind is 1 million more times powerful than an untrained mind. Keep that in your mind and know your happy life can depend on it.
This brings a line Jesus said in the Bible to mind. “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” As Holmes says, we need to have faith in the Invisible…never doubt ever the nature or law.
What Then, Shall We Plant? Pg 75
Great question. This is strictly up to you and your life. Holmes writes, “And so we wish now to plant seeds, in the springtime of our hope, that through careful cultivation shall produce the fruitage of love and accomplishment. And we wish that springtime and summer and fall-the planting, the cultivation and the harvest-shall be one joyful season of expectancy.” Again, it takes clarity with what you desire. It takes effort on your part to see it though. But the rewards are great. You are at cause not effect. There is no victim-hood.
(Q) Can any of you give an example of this kind of thinking when you knew you had a part in the results? How does love play in the equation? Holmes always said that love was important. If that is true, let’s be mindful that our seeds we wish to reap are for good. He teaches, “lets be certain our seeds are planted in love, for God is love and love is God. Love alone makes the world a better place. Love-felt and expressed-alone makes our lives worthwhile, and without love all living is a poor business, empty and unhappy. Love must be the first impulsion of our planting.”
(Q) Do you relate to the idea of love as the impulse of your planting?
Holmes also says, “And we must plant with understanding. We must understand that our simple, sincere thoughts are actually seeds, which, in the garden of Life, can produce a variety of experiences.” “We must decide what mental seed we most want to plant, under what general heading it comes-health, success, love or self-expression. Let’s take 4 typical areas of our life such as health, wealth, love, and creative-expression. Pick one and decide what you would like to grow in your garden. (Q) Do you think you could do this after today? Any questions on how to do it?
One last piece of information: Holmes instructs us. “Be not concerned with anything but the thoughts you think, not with the time or the process of their growth and flowering.” “Your job is simply to “be still and know” that you are drawing upon the Infinite.” The Infinite being, the Creative Mind, always responds to our belief in it. The spirit with us is one with the Spirit of God. In other words, we have what is ours to do and God has what It is to do.
Yes, we are blessed with bright beginnings in our planting and tending toward our harvest. Good Planting!
#Circles of Love