THE GARDEN OF LIFE

Dear One,
     Very often your carefully prepared, manicured, fertilized and watered fruit and vegetable gardens are invaded by weeds, thorns and thistles.  The invading seeds  are often deposited there by birds or the wind.  Sometimes the ground itself contains seeds of bad plants that were left within it when it was prepared.  Those bad seeds are not beneficial but will grow and take over your garden, along with the invaders which came via the wind or birds. 
   Good farmers weed their gardens regularly to pull up the small bad plants before they grow and produce bad seeds of their own.  Discarding the small bad plants will rid your vegetable or fruit gardens of all of the weeds, thorns and thistles that would eventually steal the nutrients out of the soil and greedily suck up the water meant for your crop of vegetables or fruits. Farmers don't water and fertilize their crops to make the bad plants grow.  They water and fertilize to make their beneficial crops grow.
     If the farmer does not regularly pull up the invading bad plants in their infancy, they will get so big that they will overtake the good plants, becoming a full garden of weeds, thorns and thistles instead of nutritious, life-giving, vegetables and fruits. Weeding is a necessary part of farming.  It protects the crop from destruction by invaders. 
     Jesus taught this truth when He taught the parable of seed sowing.  His emphasis was on the good crops, those having either a 30, 60 or 100 percent yield.  He said the size of the crop and the yield of the crop depends upon the ground and the farmer's caring for his crop.
     Jesus said that the good seeds are My words.  He said that I give My words to My children as wisdom and truth in order to help you sow good seeds into your garden of life.  You plant those seeds in your garden of life, nurturing them, caring for them, then weeding out any old plants that were previously grown there which are contrary to My truth.  You nourish My plants of wisdom and truth as they grow, keeping an eagle eye out for plants that appear that have sharp thorns or stickery thistles on them which will rob you of the truths that I teach to you. Those plants always produce words that hurt yourself or other people. 
    My words create loving, peaceful thoughts, attitudes and actions in you and bring peace to others.  The devil's words create angry, divisive, mean thoughts, attitudes and actions in you and others. The bad seeds come into your mind the same way that the bad seeds in the farmer's garden come, by the words of other people or by the words of the devil who whispers them into your thoughts in an effort to tempt you to plant those seeds in your garden of life. Whichever seeds you accept into your thoughts will produce attitudes and actions.  You will eventually speak either My loving words of truth and wisdom or you will speak the devil's destructive words of hatred and fear, depending upon to whom you have listened.  Once that happens, you have sown into your present life and future life seeds which will sprout plants that will either bless your life or curse your life. 
    This truth is why Jesus said that you are justified or condemned by your words.  He said that it is better to just say yes or no because every negative word comes from evil and will curse you. (Matthew 12:37)
    When My Holy Spirit becomes your tutor, He teaches you to only speak words that edify the hearers, bringing peace and grace into their gardens of life as well as sowing seeds into your garden of life. (Ephesians 4:29-32) You magnify Me and My kingdom when you only speak words which heal, build up and encourage others because I only speak words which bring peace, love and grace to the hearer. 
    Jesus said that what you do to the least of My children you do to Me.  So when you praise and compliment someone, giving validation to that person, you are praising Me also because you are building up the person instead of tearing down the person.  You are amplifying the good in that person.  I am the good part of that person, so you are magnifying Me.   (Matthew 25:40)
    I am your Good Father.  I only teach you to do good to others because that's what I also do.  That is what My true children do.  They plant good seeds in their garden of life by how they treat other people, by edifying them. 
    Tend to your garden of life with diligence for out of it flows the issues of life.
    Your Father of the Garden of Life