Article June 20, 1983 Issue

Reaping the rewards of weeding

NELLIE HAIGH

If our gardens are to flourish, weeding out the intruders is an essential part of the work. The plants—whether seedlings or well established growth—must not be deprived of root nutrients nor robbed of space, air, water, and sunshine. Moreover, as every keen gardener knows, if the plants are cherished and fed with love, the fruition will be more abundant and beautiful.

So it is with our gardens of life. The thoughts we plant and nurture largely determine the results. Plant good to reap good; plant beauty to reap beauty, while assiduously weeding out their opposites, such as fear, envy, hate. Never think of a thought as an abstraction that will die the instant it is born. It won't. Thoughts go out, work, and produce their own kind. "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days,"^{Eccl. 11:1.} the Bible tells us. We must be careful what kind of bread (thoughts) we cast on the waters of life.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy explains that in reality there is no devil (evil). Yet when we entertain evil's supposed demons, they appear to assume power and create havoc. We give them all the authority they have. But we're in charge, and by exercising God's power, which we are endowed with, we can oust the enemies. In her Miscellaneous Writings Mrs. Eddy observes, "He who has named the name of Christ, who has virtually accepted the divine claims of Truth and Love in divine Science, is daily departing from evil; and all the wicked endeavors of suppositional demons can never change the current of that life from steadfastly flowing on to God, its divine source."^{Miscellaneous Writings, p. 19.}