A Beautiful Mind

During the summer of 2007, my area experienced a severe drought. 

Almost every day the temperatures peaked at or near 100 degrees. 

People in my neighborhood moved their sprinklers around their yards desperately trying to keep their grass alive. 

Through their hard work, they hoped to have a beautiful yard.

A few years back I decided to repair my damaged yard. 

At first, I just took a rake to scratch the surface. 

Then, I threw out some seed, and watered it down. 

You've probably already guessed it.

Almost nothing came up. 

I then came to the conclusion that if I wanted to have grass. 

I had to roll up my sleeves and do extensive repairs.

So I got up early one morning with a shovel, rake, seed, and fertilizer to perform major surgery on my yard. 

First, I dug about 2 or 3 inches deep to create space for the grass seed to root. 

Then, I used the rake to break up the large pieces of clay until the dirt was fine. 

Next, I carefully removed everything that I didn't want in the soil such as weeds, stones, and other debris. 

Finally, I planted the grass seed mixed with fertilizer, raked it under, and began to water it. 

It took a lot of hard work, but I eventually got luscious green grass.

But how do YOU get a fertile mind? 

It's the same way that you get a beautiful green lawn. 

It takes effort and hard work. 

To begin, identify your poisonous thought weeds or words. 

Did you know that our casual speech simply overflows with what is abundant in our thoughts? 

You might hear yourself saying, "Nothing that I do ever works out."

Ask yourself is that really true?

Does NOTHING really ever work out?

If something does work out, then this statement of course is a LIE. 

Why continue to spread lies even about yourself?

Learn to kill and remove the lies or mental thought weeds by spraying them with truth. 

Truth is a great weed killer. WRITE DOWN THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU IN RESPONSE TO THE LIE. 

"I did buy my own home", OR "I did marry a great spouse", 

OR "I do have good kids". 

Whenever the thought arises "Nothing that I do ever works out" spray it with your thought weed killer, the truth. 

Include what God says about you in the Bible to remove wrong thinking. Such as “Christ gives me strength to face anything (Philippians 4:13 CEV)". 

BOLDLY SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU, to overcome thought weeds. 

You'll see them shrivel up.

You've also got to allow your mental rocks to be dug up. 

A MENTAL ROCK IS A WRONG THINKING PATTERN THAT CLOGS UP YOUR PRODUCTIVITY. 

It can be identified by stubbornness or unwillingness to seek help from others. 

With humility, recognize when & where you need help, and seek it. 

Be teachable. 

Allow "the hoe of truth" about other's successes to open your mind for new seeds to be planted, so you, too, can have a fertile mental field.

If you only removed the thought weeds and stones, you'd still have an empty field. 

You got to go on the offense by sowing the good seeds of "truth" into your future. 

This is how it's done. If you can say, I put together a successful strategy to pay off my car; therefore, say I CAN put together a successful strategy to pay off my house. 

Learn to MIX THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR PAST SUCCESSES INTO YOUR PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES to create a solution. 

Faith is a great fertilizer. 

Faith is the ability to take the truth, mix it with your dreams to create new expectations for improvement.

We've also got to water our lawns. The world is flowing down a river of negativity. 

Somehow, we feel uncomfortable thinking positive thoughts even about our own selves. 

I've heard that the word "think" and the word "thank" come from the same root word. 

Think about what you have to be thankful for. 

Fill your thoughts with gratitude because gratitude is the sprinkling system for your mental lawn. 

These are the ingredients that can change your negative thoughts into positive ones. 

It's a moment-by-moment decision to practice these things, but if you do, you, too, can have a prosperous mindset.“Think carefully about what you hear.” Jesus, Son of God. Mark 4:24A (NCV)

M. H. Dennis