FROM the moment she had first watched her dad plow up their large garden, Colombe had shown an intense interest and delight in every step of the process. As he watched the plowed ground broken into smaller and smaller pieces by the disc, and leveled for planting by the heavy spiked harrow, her mother explained how much like our souls a garden is.

“Before our Soul-Garden is prepared for planting,” she stated, “it is just as wild and full of thistles and weeds as was this piece of land. Then many things happen to us, turning our lives upside down (like the plow turns the sod) and sometimes hurting us and ‘breaking us all up’ ready for planting. All of this, of course, is to ‘break up’ and rid our Soul-Gardens of the wrong thought-pictures we have allowed to grow there.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Colombe, “So that’s why some little girls and boys have to be spanked and punished, and get sick, and are very poor!”

“Yes, all that is to help loosen up their Garden so that the good seed can be planted” was the answer.

What a thrill it was for the little girl to watch the various seeds go into the prepared and fertilized soil—and what fun to watch for them to pop up. Then along came a long dry spell, and she could almost hear the poor little seeds panting with thirst.

“Oh, Mother! How I wish it would rain,” she cried. “Let’s ask God for rain.”

And so, though there was not a cloud in the sky, Colombe and Mother went into the LAND OF LIGHT and made a good clear thought-picture of a nice rain, and because they were in the LAND OF LIGHT they knew it would come, and thanked God for it. The moment she arose Colombe ran to the window fully expecting rain then and there, and cried in disappointment “Why Mother, it hasn’t come yet!”

At this Mother laughed and explained that a few hours were usually necessary for the clouds to gather—and so they went to bed certain of a rain the following day. Of course the rain came, and Colombe felt overjoyed to see the thirsty garden drinking it up. However, since the land was still quite dry and she heard her dad wishing for more rain, she decided to ask for more. Before long it began to rain, and rain, and rain, and keep on raining until the garden was nearly flooded—the fields were like mud, and some of the poor little seeds were drowned.

“Oh! Mother!” cried the child, “I didn’t ask for that much. I’m so tired of staying in the house—and look at that garden! Why doesn’t God stop the rain? I asked Him to but He didn’t!”

“The trouble probably is that our thought-pictures aren’t strong enough to melt all of the ‘rain-fear-pictures’ which the people around here are all making. God knows what we need and will send it if we don’t keep it from us by wrong pictures. We don’t have to tell Him everything to do. All we need to do is to really TRUST him and everything will be alright. Let’s try it!”

And so Colombe and Mother ceased to worry about the rain and just knew that God would take care of everything for them in the very best way possible. Soon the rain in their particular locality ceased, the sun came out, and the garden thrived.

“Weren’t we foolish to worry about the rain, Mother?” laughed Colombe.

“Indeed we were,” said her mother. “We should never worry about anything because God knows so much better than we do what is best—and our worries keep our good from coming to us just like weeds crowd out the good things of the garden if allowed to grow.”

“Shouldn’t we make thought-films anymore then, like we did to get this farm?”

“Certainly,” answered Mother. “In fact we can’t help making thought-films because every thought we become at all interested in makes a ‘film’ of some sort. So we must be very careful to give our interest and attention only to God’s good perfect thoughts, and never to the fearful, sad, worry thoughts of others. Whenever we see something ugly or unpleasant we can know that it is a foolish picture made by some old thought-film which we haven’t yet dug out of our mind. As soon as we stop believing in this old picture, the thought-film will melt and the picture will fade away from the lovely God-Thought which it covered—and the unpleasant thing will then look beautiful.”

This explanation brought forth another question from Colombe. “Is there a lovely God-thought even under spiders, rats, thistles, flies, and mosquitoes?”

“Yes!” answered Mother. “God’s Life sparkles even within those horrid pictures which we have made because, as you know, God is everywhere and in everything ALL THE TIME. And so —since everything is a part of God’s OWN SELF, He most surely would make ALL beautiful, good, and perfect, wouldn’t He? You wouldn’t purposely make any part of your body ugly or bad or imperfect would you?”

“I should say not!” emphatically replied the girl.

“Then you can see that it is only our own wrong thoughts which make some parts of God (like the flies, rats, etc.) look imperfect to us. Also, you would most certainly never deliberately hurt any part of yourself,” Mother continued. “And so, since God can do anything He wants to, don’t you suppose that He always takes perfect care of every part of His Own Self?”

“Why, yes, of course He must! I suppose it’s our miserable old thought-films again that makes us think He has forgotten us.”

“Exactly!” agreed Mother. “And it isn’t very likely that God would let any PART OF HIMSELF hurt or make unhappy ANY OTHER PART OF HIMSELF any more than you would make your fingers hurt some other part of your body!”

“Oh, I see!” exclaimed the child. “You mean we don’t have to be afraid of ANYTHING because it is a part of God just like we are!”

“Yes! Nothing can really ever hurt you. God wouldn’t let it. It is only your wrong thoughts and feelings that make things seem to hurt you—and as soon as you get rid of them nothing will ever bother you again. And so, to be always safe, happy, healthy, and well-cared-for all we need to do is to give ALL of our love, our interest, and our attention to GOD, and do everything we do to please HIM ONLY. Then, no matter how ugly some of the pictures around us seem, we must TRUST GOD PERFECTLY, knowing that He will take the very best of care of every beautiful part of His Wonderful Self. If we really do this ALL THE TIME there will be no interest or attention or fear or desire left to put life into the wrong thought-films—and they will ALL fade away and never bother us again, leaving us happy, strong, and prosperous in the beautiful wonderful world as GOD SEES IT.”

End of Course.

—o—

OVERHEARD IN AN ORCHARD

SAID the robin to the sparrow, “I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.” Said the sparrow to the robin, “Friend, I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me!“ —Elizabeth Cheney

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