Ice Trays and Socialism

Let me take a break from the Gardner of Eden series for a minute. I have been thinking and pondering how I might share my thoughts on the subject of Socialism. I know most of my old friends, and even new ones don’t really understand my way of thinking, but there is a revelation pattern in here. I would venture to say that most of my friends from the old days probably think I’m a tree hugging, liberal, socialist! Well it’s not to far-fetched honestly, we had been out of the Bible belt for about 3 or 4 years and the rumor going around that me and my wife were covered in tattoos! Way too freaking funny, my wife has one small one she got years ago, and me well I have none. Sorry I always chase rabbits….LOL

Back to the subject at hand, our country and socialism. I would like to make this point about where I stand in all of this. My loving Christian capitalists friends are thinking I jumped ship! Well not so fast. I have been pondering this for quite sometime before I blurt out what I think, by the way I try to think with the mind of Christ. I know it doesn’t always translate but I try. I think St. Paul did the same thing; sometimes he would say, “the Lord says this or that”, and others he would say, “this is my opinion, not necessarily the Lord’s.” I am endeavoring to get the mind of Christ on this subject. I love how some of my Christian friends just burst out a comment like it’s the gospel truth! Too funny, honestly but very damaging at times. Not realizing that the carnal mind ALWAYS mistakes opinion as gospel facts!

ICE TRAYS & SOCIALISM:

We have lived in Michigan for 11 years now. We have only had two refrigerators, or ‘ice boxes’ as I was raised. We have the fancy automatic ice maker water line thing, but ours had some kind of leak and well I just never fixed it. So please don’t judge. We have a family of two 21-year-old twin boys and another 17-year-old. Everyone in the house is ok with not having ice in their drinks. Me and my youngest twin can not. We fill our ice full to the brim with ice even if the tea in the ‘ice box’ has been there for three days! I don’t know if it is a bad habit or not, maybe a small dysfunction? I think we can call it ‘Icelituous: the over powering urge to have ice to the brim with every cold drink.’  Consequently with the old fashion ice tray situation, every time I go to get ice for my drinks; there is no ice. Well I take that back we have three ice trays in the freezer and each one usually has one blooming ice-cube in each tray! I shouldn’t complain or worry I know, but ice is my thing. Ice is my son’s thing too.

Herein is the lesson I want to lay on you, that I’m learning. By the way my oldest twin son thinks the world would be a better place without money, and everyone shared. Ha Ha!!! good luck with that. The lesson is the quandary of the Socialist mindset of my son and the ice tray. I love ice! The ONLY time he refills the trays is when I stand there and make him. I get crazy without my ice and I just put the trays back in the freezer or lay them out on the counter empty! And I think to myself, I’m never filling them again! I guess I’ll have to learn to live without ice. Well you see I’m the provider of the water and electricity to produce this ice that my son enjoys. Consequently I have to fill up the trays as well!

You see my son, he doesn’t pay for any thing, and also he never fills up the trays. Consequently he gives the socialist living a black eye. I personally think it is a bad idea to provide a way of life for someone who refuses to do any of the work. So I guess you can say in that light I think Socialism alone and by itself is a bad idea. I mean when all the funds are thrown in the middle of the pot, and everyone takes the same share is ludicrous. Why then should I fill up the ice trays for someone who won’t do the same, even if it actually cost me money! This is what happens in our society. The unwilling and wealthy will continue to create a great chasm. I have a sneaky feeling that if the IRS ever removes the donor receipts for giving then we would find out just how generous our people are!

Marxism says with the Socialist ideologies that people could only take a share of the portion of the whole pot based upon their contribution. So with that I can tend to agree more with. I do not believe that what happened in the book of Acts during the great revival outpouring was socialism. I don’t believe it was some Communal tribal living arrangement. But what happened in Acts chapter 2 -4 was Kingdom Community Life. It was meant to be empowering and uplifting. It was more of a teach a man to fish kind of way of life, instead of just feed him. The idea is that those who were possessors of lands and homes, plural here meaning extra! They donated them for the good of the community and in honor of this new-found way of life in the Spirit. They didn’t give everything they had, neither were they asked or required to.

But in any tribal way of life it is expected as a caring member to help a brother in need. The rhetoric that is going on in our country with the politics and christian capitalist ideologies is disheartening. While very few of the majority of the people think Socialism is a great idea, on the other hand that alone is not an excuse to not be Christ like and share your extra with those around you. For some reason it comes across ugly when they bash the socialistic, tree hugging, liberal occupy movement types. They tend to throw all of us into one clump. I personally don’t know anyone that doesn’t want to work or have a good job and a better lifestyle. I haven’t had insurance since 1994, but I have assurance. I haven’t been beating the drum about it, it is my lot in life and I accept it. Just know that maybe all of your extra stuff might have been given to you by God to one day see where your heart is? I hope your sphere of love goes beyond your immediate family, and circle of friends.

So here is my choice: I fill the ice trays for me and my son. I don’t do it because I think he is lazy, or because I think Socialism is a good idea. I do it because it is right. After all it’s only water, I enjoy it frozen and I don’t mind – I would fill them up anyways if he didn’t live here. Who knows maybe one day he will learn and or reap what he sows with his son one day? You see I’m a believer and follower of the way, and Kingdom person.

I have a very good friend that tells me all the time, “If people could do better they would!” I have to tell you that is a great mindset to have. Don’t get bitter because you have to fill up everyone’s ice trays just to enjoy ice in your drinks. Just be grateful and thankful to God that you have the ability and where withal to pay for the water and electricity. ~ Selah

Empathetic Civilization

Just too good not to share…

The Gardener of Eden 3

The garden that we are all called to tend to is our heart! Adam was instructed to dress and keep the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2: 15  And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

A better translation would be from the Hebrew words for dress and keep. The thought is to tend to, till, work, labor, and serve; and watch, observe, and protect. Even in the Garden it was man’s privilege and responsibility to work and guard for the life of the Garden. This is our responsibility today as gardeners of Eden. We are to tend to the space of our hearts, and tend to the trees among us. The trees are the relationships with others. Isaiah 61 says that we are all trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord.

I was talking to some very close friends of mine the other day about this subject. We are all like gardeners whether you realize it or not; soon  enough you will figure that out. I have never seen so much turmoil going on in the world and the hearts of people. I am convinced there are economic stresses and physical calamities, but the real problems we struggle with are relational. We have not been fulfilling our God ordained call to tend to our gardens. As I was talking to my friends, we have a conference call about every Sunday, this subject became clear.

The process of gardening our heart works much like the Mark 4 parable of the types of grounds. Remember earlier I stated that most likely at some point we were all for types of these grounds at sometime or another. The types are Hard, Stony, Thorny, and different levels of Good ground.

Mar 4:3  Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
Mar 4:4  And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.
Mar 4:5  And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:
Mar 4:6  But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.
Mar 4:7  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
Mar 4:8  And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.
Mar 4:9  And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

My first full-time paying job was given to me when I was 14 years old. We had moved into a new town, and the oil business was booming and money was flowing like water. One of my new best friends’ Mother opened up a Nursery. The nursery was of course filled with plants, flowers and gardening supplies. My primary responsibility was landscaping and lawn care. A big part of our business was planting new lawns, from grass, to all of the landscaping themes. It is funny today I can go back to my home town and many of the lawns that are in the new neighborhoods were planted by me some thirty plus years ago! Since the oil business was booming everyone was moving to our town. People were buying up vacant lots and  building new homes like they were going out of style. The lawn care, planting, and landscaping became a full-time job.

The Hard Ground

We had a small lawn tractor with a rotor tiller on the back. We used this machine about every other day it seemed. The ground was so hard because it had not been ever tilled in probably ages. Many times it was so hard that I had to have two other employees stand on the back of the tiller just to keep the tines in the ground. Many times we would have to soak up the ground by watering it for a couple of days. Not only is the ground hard, but it is very odd that nothing grows on it, except for the things you don’t want to grow. The hardest and most labor intense times are spent in the very beginning of the lawn process. That’s why last time we shared on this subject, that it would get easier! Just hang out with me for a minute I’ll show you.

Much like our hearts when they are hard, or get hardened through painful situations it is hard to grow anything but weeds on. I am amazed that weeds pretty much can grow about anywhere! I’ve seen weeds grow practically on black top. But if you desire a lush grass lawn it’s going to take work. If we think in these terms of our heart then when we first become enlightened and God just breaks up our hard hearts! He floods us with the water of the Spirit to soften the blow of the tills. For the most part it feels good to be broken up and softened. unfortunately this is only the beginning! Let me interject here; Adam was placed in the Providence of God. The initial seeds were planted by God Himself and the deep was already broken up. Adam didn’t have to deal with the breaking up of the hard ground, or stones, even thorns for that matter. His initial call to work was full of grace and from a place of identity. When they were sent out of the Garden then all of these responsibilities came upon him. Breaking up the hard ground just make it possible to receive seed would now be his responsibility. He would then have to level the ground, remove the stones, and pull the weeds.

There are obvious obstacles that must be removed prior to breaking up the ground. Before we tilled up the hard ground we would always do an inspection. Lets be clear here, that when God is ready to break up your hard ground it is for a purpose and and ultimately for your increase. I have noticed that while some may have been tending to their garden of their heart for years, there are some hard spots. Much like natural lawns it can become dry and hard with out water. Another way to harden an otherwise perfect lawn is by walking or playing too roughly. I remember when I was in Jr High we would all have a class at the High School. The schools were only a couple of blocks away. There was one poor lady who had a great lawn, but all of us kids would always cut through her lawn instead of going around the corner. This went on for the whole year, she would come out screaming and we would all run off. The fact of the matter the constant walking in one spot destroyed the grass and made the ground very hard in that area.

Her solution to the problem was putting up a fence to force all of the students to follow the street line. We podcasted about this subject in our latest podcasts call Walls and Fences. So if we are not careful we can have a perfect lawn of our heart but allowing people to constantly walk in the same pattern over and over in our hearts will kill the grass, and create hard ground. If this is the case we have no choice but to erect healthy boundaries / fences and water!

The Gardener of Eden 2

There is some wonderful spiritual meat in these first three chapters of Genesis. Even beyond the ‘realms’ of awareness or consciousness in Him there is this idea of the process. Everything in God is manifested through a maturing process. While Adam was in the garden he possessed the fulness in potentiality, he had not mastered it in actuality. The result of eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil proved that fact.

When Adam took of the fruit he was not mature enough to handle such great awareness and knowledge. The end result is our modern-day carnal system. Using our own will, and understanding to make sense out of our walk with God. In the midst of this whole event the RealU identity was hidden, or some would say lost. Lost means that I used to have something, but I just can’t seem to locate or find it. So when Jesus was on earth as the Son of Man he proclaimed that He had come to seek and save the lost! Meaning simply, to relocate, identify, and recover those that are misplaced.

In a real sense we all have the same role as Adam, tending to the garden of our hearts. That is what happened when Adam and Eve were ‘sent’ from the Garden. Thorns and Thistles was going to be the process that Adam would have to work through. This reminds me of the most wonderful parable by Jesus in Mark chapter 4. Over the years it has been known as the parable of the sower. Actually the parable is about the ground. The types of ground determined the harvest. The seed and sower were the constant in each situation. We see hard, thorny, stony, and good ground. Even on the good ground the fruit only produced some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. Clearly this is what I call the process. My bishop used to say years ago, ‘Progress is a process’. Jesus said that if we can not understand this parable then we would never understand anything that He would tell us.

What I now know I have been all of the grounds! We are not mostly one or the other, we are all the same at some point in our lives. When Adam was thrust out of the Garden then thorns and thistles, was the norm. You see you can not bypass the process. If we are going to go back through the Garden, Paradise, we have to tend to our ground (heart).  Hard heartedness is the closed mind to where no seed can be received. Stony ground are those things in our hearts that always trip us up, from our path. The thorny ground is the cares of life and deceitfulness of riches that choke the word out. Even the good ground is a process to get to the final yield. The thirtyfold return can become the sixtyfold, but you have to stay in the process.

You see Jesus had to grow and mature just like you and I. The only difference is that it took him 30 years to ‘forget’ who He was in order to fully take on flesh and show us the way. We on the other hand are desperately trying to ‘remember’ who we are! The system and everything around us is continually trying to deter us from this fact. Not only do we have to deal with self-imposed stuff, we have the system with the voice, and then all of the ground situations to work through. The whole idea may overwhelming a bit, but let me be the first to share with you that it does become easier.

The Gardener of Eden 1

I so love the first story of creation and the Garden of Eden. I can not even begin to tell you how long I have meditated and researched the content. Truthfully I have yet to exhaust all of the knowledge and understanding. Just this week I have gleaned more insight from the first few books of the Bible. As I get older I am realizing that we have to get our theology, and spiritual concepts about life and God correct in these first books. If these are off or skewed just in the slightest then as you drift forward through time, your theology and God conscouseness will be way off from the original configuration. I won’t bore you with all of insights to these passages today, maybe another time. But lets agree that Adam was created – Formed – Fallen. In Genesis chapter 2 God says let us make man in our image and likeness. Then later in the seventh day he Formed Adam, and sometime later manifested Eve by manifesting her from a rib of Adam. It says he Made the woman. So in the beginning of the manifested reality of mankind there were these realms, or dimensions.

The Created Man in his fullness is perfect and in the image and likeness of God. The Formed man or manifested man, of which retains the image and likeness of God but just like the garden he was divinely placed in, it was in seed form. The Formed man is in the potentiality phase, having the power to grow up and mature in the fulness. A side note to the fact of the immaturity of the first Adam was the reality that they never gave birth and multiplied while in the Garden. This is wonderful because that would have been tragic to the plan of God, but also proof that they weren’t mature enough. The Formed man was not in full mature form. This has become a missing link to people’s theology. The Formed man Adam was not in fulness, that was something God is desiring of all of us. The purpose for the Formed man we call humanity, is to grow up into Him in all things. St. Paul calls it the growing up in the fullness of God. The fact that they chose the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil proves that they were immature. Which of you would ever make the same mistake? I mean now that you have become enlightened? Well let’s not pat ourselves on the back just yet, it is quite possible that we are just now getting back to this phase of the RealU.

After the fall or act of disobedience we usually call Adam fallen man. But let me interject here that Adam was not deceived but rather Eve was. Adam took of the fruit knowingly. St. Paul makes this point very clear that the woman was deceived not the man. We like to call this version of Adam the Fallen man. I prefer Carnal man. This man is Carnal in every since of the word. The Carnal man makes up his own rules on religion and ways to make himself feel right towards God. This is where the fig leaves come in. The truth about the matter the Fallen or Carnal man who possesses a carnal mind was manifested sometime between deciding to the eat the fruit and actually eating it. I have a sneaky feeling that it was the prior. Once you decide in your mind and spirit to ‘do’, then according to Jesus you have ‘done’.

So now we have the 3-D Man.
Created Man (Spiritual Being) The Image and Likeness in Fulness (The RealU) Perfected Self Awareness
Formed Man (Manifested Living Soul) The Image in Fulness and Likeness in Seed form or Infancy (The Manifested RealU – Conscience of Self)
Carnal Man (Fallen) Lost the Likeness – Never loses the Image in Fulness (The Illusion of the RealU – Identity with Self)

Now we find ourselves in this realm desiring to work our way back to and through the Garden of Eden. So have to comprehend our reality from the reverse. Jesus came and restored all, took care of every thing demon, devil and obstacle. The issue is to comprehend in reverse this process of restoration so that we may apprehend. You can not comprehend what you can not understand, also you will never apprehend what you can not comprehend! St. Paul calls it working out your salvation. He is in no way inferring that you work out your way to heaven, but rather work out the process of back to and through the Garden.

The first man was manifested of the earth and earthly. He was formed from the very dirt he was called to tend to. The second man was heavenly and heavenly in substance. In a sense we know this as Adam and Jesus. But in a mystery it is you too. You have an earthly expression and manifestation, and a heavenly identity and reality. You are the man of the earth and the man of heavenly substance. The first man was Adam and he was a gardener. The Second man was the Lord from heaven. (ICor. 15:47) The Second man was also a gardener!  John 20:15 when Mary was at the tomb looking for the body of Jesus He appeared to her in a new form. She supposed Him to be the ‘Gardener’!!! So the first shall be last and the last shall be first. The last man was manifest as a Gardener to show us that He has placed us all back into the realm of the Formed man or Adamic state in the Garden.

On the cross He told one of the thieves that, that day he would bring him to Paradise. The term Paradise friends is always referred to as the Garden of Eden, even in folklore. Sorry for all of the rambling, but the point I have to make here is that our walk with God is going to resemble that of the life of a farmer, or gardener.