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	<title>Considerations</title>
	<atom:link href="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?feed=rss2" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations</link>
	<description>Words of encouragement, life, and hope.</description>
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		<title>A Bridge to the Land of Plenty</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=116</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=116#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Aug 2010 22:09:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jane</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Jane's Journal Notes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holy Spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Laughter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prophetic Insight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Provision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Kingdom of Heaven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vision]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=116</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[God paints a wonderful description of a spiritual bridge to the "Land of Plenty", where your heart's desires are fulfilled already. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Before you read this word, let me paint for you the picture I saw, so you can see it, too.</p>
<p>When I heard &#8220;Walk over the Bridge.&#8221;, I saw a small wooden bridge &#8211; in perfect repair, in fact appearing as newly finished wood.  It was completely safe &#8211; I saw no dangerous river beneath.  There was nothing to cause alarm.  In fact, it was just a lovely bridge, that didn&#8217;t take many steps to cross from one land to another.  The surroundings around this bridge are many types of trees and greenery &#8211; all is friendly and inviting; perhaps the quiescent scene from a quaint countryside.</p>
<div id="attachment_117" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 857px"><a href="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/99-21mp2.jpg"><img src="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/99-21mp2.jpg" alt="Fruit of the Vine" title="&quot;Fruit of the Vine&quot;" width="847" height="693" class="size-full wp-image-117" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">The grapes are ready for harvest!</p></div>
<p>Now for the word:</p>
<p>&#8220;Cross the bridge from the land of want and need<br />
go ahead and walk over the bridge to the land of plenty,<br />
the land of ALL you can ask for, dream and desire.<br />
The only thing you have to do is start walking and cross (walk) right over the bridge.<br />
Swing in the playground of plenty.<br />
Laugh in the surroundings of ALL is enough!<br />
Dance in the fields of blessing<br />
Rejoice in the goodness of abundance<br />
Take in the fragrance of all sufficiency<br />
See with eyes taking pictures of joy fulfilled.<br />
See your heart completely fulfilled and running over.<br />
Blessing comes easy and a heart full gives gratitude and thankfulness<br />
as it overflows with the fullness it enjoys.<br />
As others see from a distance they will leave the land of darkness<br />
and cross over the Bridge.<br />
Just make sure you stay in the Land of Plenty<br />
others can see you and as they do they will walk across too.<br />
Swim in the river of Goodness.<br />
Bask in the Sun of Joy.<br />
Breathe in the air of Completeness.<br />
Laugh in the fullness of All is totally, completely, fully overflowingly well.<br />
This is the Kingdom of Heaven.<br />
This is the land I&#8217;ve given to you.<br />
This is the place where your heart, your soul, is at peace.<br />
The Rest is present and your Joy is Full!<br />
This the place of &#8220;over the rainbow!&#8221;<br />
Dreams, wishes, the desires of the heart already are complete,<br />
already fulfilled, and your enjoyment &#8211; your completed enjoyment,<br />
brings forth Praise &#8211; brings forth Thankfulness &#8211; the True Fruit &#8211;<br />
The perfect vintage of Wine on the Lees.<br />
Thanks for walking across  the Bridge &#8211;<br />
I&#8217;ve put it there for you.<br />
You are the jewels in My crown and you are the colors in the rainbow.<br />
My delight is in you &#8211; and you are My delight.&#8221;</p>
<p>God said to celebrate this word, for this is how He truly sees you in His Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.<br />
Take time to meditate on this word and make it part of you.</p>
<p>Love and Blessings,<br />
Jane</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Faithfulness</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=107</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=107#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:58:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Flowers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faithfulness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the garden]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=107</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[God reveals Himself to us through the faithfulness of a rose, and many other aspects of nature. What do you see in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is a rose bush in our garden that has been there for probably fifteen years.  It amazes me how nothing seems to faze it.  Every year it comes back with more pink blossoms than the year before, and we really don&#8217;t do anything special with it.  It does not care if we feed it every other week or not, or if the sun is particularly hot for a few days, or if we have a rainy spring.  Thing is, it just grows and produces its blossoms without complaining or asking questions.  It is the essence of faithfulness.</p>
<p>What is faithfulness.  According to me, it is being full of faith.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. -Hebrews 11  So faith allows us to see the invisible substance that is behind the picture we see in this realm, the life-force or reality in the spirit realm.  When we see by faith, we see into another dimension and can create what we see by speaking it.  We do this whether we know it or not, so say what you want to live in!</p>
<p>What I am getting at is that there is an invisible force that causes the rose, and every other part of creation its life and form.  This is God in action.<br />
Consider this&#8230;</p>
<p>If we take a moment to be  still, we can let ourselves recognize the force that causes the rose to live and bring forth life.  It is light, easy, fun, and free.  It goes on into expression, even if we don&#8217;t recognize it, yet we can bring forth a greater manifestation by recognizing its reality.  God is in you, too.  See this with open eyes.  What is God to you?  Is He holy, is he alive?  Is He anything negative or bad?  You have to answer this for yourself.  This is good news.  God IS LIFE!  God is LOVE!  God is PEACE!  God is JOY!  You cannot impart to God something He is not, that is, God is never going to be evil or bad.  He is not a creation of your making, but you have to let into your understanding the goodness that God is.  God is light and in Him is no darkness. -1John 1:5</p>
<div id="attachment_108" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 875px"><a href="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMGP2284.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-108" title="Our 15 year old rose." src="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/IMGP2284-865x1024.jpg" alt="Our 15 year old rose." width="865" height="1024" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Faithfulness</p></div>
<p>So God is being the faithfulness of the rose that lets itself come up year after year for a testimony of God&#8217;s loving care and faithfulness to us.  God is here and He is both good and faithful.  Faith for us is seeing God&#8217;s goodness and believing it even in the face of other &#8220;evidences&#8221; that will disappear as vapor when we lean on the arm of God.  This pleases God greatly, when we can have faith in Him.  He will not let us down, not even for a moment, if we dare to believe.  Lets forget for a moment about all of the reasons why not.  Forget about the past, it is gone.  The future is full of only good, so leave it alone too.  Be still.</p>
<p>Look outside your window and see the wonderful goodness of God in your yard, or in the people walking by on the street.  In the animals, in the plate of food in front of you.  Feel Him in the wind blowing through your hair and the green grass under your feet. God is present.  Nature is one of our most obvious lessons, but there are others.  God is everywhere.  All the time.  You cannot escape Him, try as you might.</p>
<p>The gentle breeze is brushing through you hair, carrying away all of your fears, insecurities, and worries.  A lightness is flooding your heart and the security that all is well.  You are in His kingdom now.  Nothing can hurt you, for God is love.  &#8220;I made you, you know.  You are my precious child and I love you.  Rest.  Lay your head upon My chest and let me surround you.&#8221;  Listen carefully.  God is singing you a song.  He is humming a tune just for you.  &#8220;I love you, I love you, I will never let you go.  Rest in Me, abide in Me.  My fountain of Light is within you.  I will surround you with my goodness and my love forever, you are my Son, my daughter.  LIVE!&#8221;</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Healing Gardens</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=90</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=90#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 22:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Flowers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Provision]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trust]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=90</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>The water is babbling through the creek, Rhododendrons are in bloom, white, violet, deep purple. Bright orange Azaleas, sky blue Lobelia, Pink Therese Bugnet set against green Ferns and Lilies.  There are some Forget-Me Nots and Jacob&#8217;s Ladder.  Carnations, Oregon Grape, Columbine, Astilbe, Geum, Geranium and Sweet Woodruf sprawl across the ground intermingling with one-another.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The water is babbling through the creek, Rhododendrons are in bloom, white, violet, deep purple. Bright orange Azaleas, sky blue Lobelia, Pink Therese Bugnet set against green Ferns and Lilies.  There are some Forget-Me Nots and Jacob&#8217;s Ladder.  Carnations, Oregon Grape, Columbine, Astilbe, Geum, Geranium and Sweet Woodruf sprawl across the ground intermingling with one-another.  There is an almost audible expectancy and awe in the air as the sun shines down giving its precious life to each and every happy faced seeker.</p>
<div id="attachment_93" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 829px"><a href="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2010contemplationrhodis1.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-93 " title="2010contemplationrhodis1" src="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2010contemplationrhodis1-1024x685.jpg" alt="Rhodis, Azaleas, Sweet Woodruf, Day Lilies, Columbine, etc." width="819" height="548" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">A shot our fountain and one of our Healing Gardens</p></div>
<p>Even now as I write I am laying in the grass watching the splendor of the afternoon bring sweet serenity to the air.  An ant crawling through the grass just found my keyboard.  I wonder if it could lift this computer, and I shouldn&#8217;t be supprised if I find the screen inching away from me momentarily.</p>
<p>Do flowers feel and know or are they just there?  I think they know more than most of us ever take time to appreciate.  The Impatients and Maiden Hair Ferns sit in their pot joyfully stretching out, smiling to tell their story of God&#8217;s wonderful  light.  Somehow they don&#8217;t need words or they would speak.  Their existence is more profound and more elegant than mere words. To me, flowers are a testimony to God&#8217;s ever-pervading presence and goodness.  Each plant is so beautifully crafted,  with its instructions for life already in place &#8211; yet so changeable, so adaptable.  Show me anything man-made that is so perfect, so alive.  If each plant were programed like a computer, each rose would look exactly like the next one.  How much sun do they get?  How much water?  Is the soil full of nutrients?  Does it drain properly?  A plant cannot get up and walk to a more preferable spot if it thinks the conditions might be better.  A flower is utterly dependent, upon so many things!  Not just water, but water, food, temperature, soil, a mate, or mates, being kept safe from animals, bugs, disease.  Yet did you ever see a more eager, more trusting, dedicated creation than a pansy?  What joy in bursting forth at the first sign of spring, what rugged determination when it is cold, to keep pushing up, continue searching for light and water, as if everything in the world depended on it, yet without effort.</p>
<p>Think for a moment about us as people.  We struggle to maintain a control of our environment to such a degree that if my morning coffee is 10 minutes late it throws off my whole day.  What if it rains for the soccer game this afternoon?  Does that mean God has forgotten me, or is He just displeased with me?  Why is the rain necessarily bad?</p>
<p>We people worry about money more than anything.  We look around, trying to figure out where our next paycheck is coming from, or if the stock market is up or down; how we are going to put the kids through college, or how we are going to buy groceries for dinner tonight.</p>
<p>Why would God take care of and love a Pansy more than you?  You who are made in His own image and likeness, you who He gave His own Son for!  God is not withholding anything from you!  How could God, who calls Himself our Father not give us abundantly all that we need and desire? If you doubt this just look at at flower.  How simple, how beautiful, how utterly dependent on God for everything!  How faithful He is.  Let us now open up our hearts and just trust in the goodness that is everywhere.  Maybe we could throw off some ballast and experience Joy!</p>
<div id="attachment_95" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 840px"><a href="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2010frankdelphinium11.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-95  " title="2010frankdelphinium1" src="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2010frankdelphinium11-1024x685.jpg" alt="Blue Delphinium" width="830" height="555" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Think of Heaven</p></div>
<p>I encourage you to take some time out of your busy day and marvel at the the intricate beauty of a flower or a whole garden.  Stare at it long enough to realize that God really is taking care of the plants, and doing a good job of it!  Feel their gratitude and give a little of it to somebody you meet.  Maybe all you need is to smile.</p>
<p>God loves you, too.  More than you know.  Are you more important than a little flower?  I think so.</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hudson Taylor&#8217;s Spiritual Secret</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=86</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=86#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 20:57:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faithfulness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holy Spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hope]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Lord is good to me]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=86</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hudson Taylor explains to his children that Jesus will take care of them moment by [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hudson Taylor was a missionary with an organization called &#8220;China Inland Missions&#8221; in the 1800&#8242;s.  Daily he faced impossibilities, and met them with peace and victory.  The following excerpt is from his biography, <em>Hudson Taylor&#8217;s Spiritual Secret</em>, by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson&#8217;s son and daughter-in-law.  Hudson and his wife had sent their children home to England, as conditions were unsafe for children in China.<br />
In a letter to the children Hudson writes:<br />
&#8220;You do not know how often Father thinks of his darlings, and how often he looks at your photographs till the tears fill his eyes.  Sometimes he almost fears lest he should feel discontented when he thinks how far away you are from him.  But then the dear Lord Jesus who never leaves him says, &#8216;Don&#8217;t be afraid:  I will keep your heart satisfied.&#8217;  &#8230; And I thank Him, and am so glad that He will live in my heart and keep it right for me.<br />
I wish you, my precious children, knew what it is  to give your hearts to Jesus to keep every day.  I used to try to keep my own heart right, but it would always be going wrong.  So at last I had to give up trying myself, and to accept the Lord&#8217;s offer to keep it for me.  Don&#8217;t you think that is the best way?  Perhaps sometimes you think, &#8216;I will try not to be selfish or unkind or disobedient.&#8217;  And yet, though you really try, you do not succeed.  But Jesus says:  &#8216;You  should trust that to Me.&#8217;  I would  keep that little heart, if you would trust Me with it.&#8217;  And He would, too.<br />
Once I used to think very much and very often about Jesus,  but I often forgot Him.  Now I trust Jesus to keep my heart remembering Him, and He does so.  This is the best way.  Ask dear Miss Blatchley (the children&#8217;s caretaker) to tell you more about this way, and pray God to make it plain to you, and to help <em>you</em> so to trust Jesus.&#8217;</p>
<p>You too, dear reader can trust Jesus to take care of every detail of your life.  Blessings.</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>An Early Garden Update</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=83</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=83#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:20:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jane</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Every Day Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beauty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flowers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gardening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spring]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=83</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Hi Friends,</p>
<p>Well, I thought I would give a garden report here.  Spring came early for us this year &#8211; about the first two weeks of March.  It was lovely and warm, the snow was melting away on the paths, green grass was showing more each day and flower beds were showing their treasures as each [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hi Friends,</p>
<p>Well, I thought I would give a garden report here.  Spring came early for us this year &#8211; about the first two weeks of March.  It was lovely and warm, the snow was melting away on the paths, green grass was showing more each day and flower beds were showing their treasures as each day revealed more plants coming out.  Some plants were so excited they were clapping their little leaves.  A pansy even burst through with a happy new face &#8211; the first bloom of the year.</p>
<p>Then winter came with great determination.  Cold, snow, rain, but mostly new snow; about 1.5 feet or more altogether.  Needless to say, everything in the garden again went under wraps awaiting more friendly weather.  To be fair, the latest white stuff has melted and I can see yellowish signs of day lilies that will green up with the sun &amp; some roses have bare ground showing.</p>
<p>This week is promising.  It has snained here (rain and snow mix), rained &amp; snowed.  As I look at the extended forecast it appears that each day should be a little bit warmer.  Its now 36 degrees  and the end of the week will be close to 60.  If that forecast is true we will be celebrating!</p>
<p>Everyone is looking forward to the sunshine and I mean all of us here at &#8220;Lilies&#8221; &#8211; that  includes the inhabitants of our gardens.</p>
<p>So there you have the report on the West Side, Cascade, Idaho.</p>
<p>P.S.  The sun is trying to come through the clouds right now.  We do know its always there, just haven&#8217;t seen much of it yet!</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Lift Off</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=79</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=79#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:57:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Poetry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heaven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vision]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=79</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s time for lift off
Are you ready to go
On the journey of a lifetime
Through heaven&#8217;s door.</p>
<p>Come up says the Father
Come and see
All the wonderful things here
That fill eternity.</p>
<p>The city of gold will open to you
Her arms everlasting of all things true.
There are mountains and rivers just waiting for you,
Moonbeams and radiances for you to view.
Angels [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s time for lift off<br />
Are you ready to go<br />
On the journey of a lifetime<br />
Through heaven&#8217;s door.</p>
<p>Come up says the Father<br />
Come and see<br />
All the wonderful things here<br />
That fill eternity.</p>
<p>The city of gold will open to you<br />
Her arms everlasting of all things true.<br />
There are mountains and rivers just waiting for you,<br />
Moonbeams and radiances for you to view.<br />
Angels and beings heretofore never seen;</p>
<p>Colors and fragrances to delight your being.<br />
There is life upon life just waiting for you<br />
So come up My children,<br />
Heaven&#8217;s waiting for you.</p>
<p>Just enter the heavenlies through the door of faith  -<br />
And I will draw you and give you forever the place,<br />
Of abiding here with Me,<br />
Of seeing My face.</p>
<p>My place is your place,<br />
Just come and see<br />
Wonders and miracles forever free.</p>
<p>No shadows nor darkness<br />
Only truth, only light,<br />
No needs, no ambitions<br />
Only fulfillment, only Life.</p>
<p>Lift off in your spirit<br />
Come and stay with Me<br />
My doors always open<br />
Just come up and see.</p>
<div id="attachment_80" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 310px"><a title="&quot;River Of Life&quot;" href="http://skyrivergallery.com/products.php?cat=19&amp;pg=3" target="_blank"><img class="size-medium wp-image-80" title="&quot;River of Life&quot;" src="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/98-06.4-300x222.jpg" alt="&quot;River of Life&quot;" width="300" height="222" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Greeting Card #98-06  by Lilies of the Field, Inc.</p></div>
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		<title>What Would Jesus Wear Today? Part 2</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=74</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=74#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 22:17:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Consciousness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lanyon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Manifest Light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recognition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Redemption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Salvation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spirituality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thank You Father]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Cross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Finished Kingdom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p>Today we will finish the article we began yesterday, enjoy&#8230;</p>
<p>Jesus, too, said the answer existed before the problem, &#8211; &#8220;Before you ask, I will answer, and while you are yet speaking, I shall give it unto you&#8221;, &#8211; and again, &#8220;Thank you, Father, I knew that this was done&#8221;, &#8211; in this latter instance, making [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today we will finish the article we began yesterday, enjoy&#8230;</p>
<p>Jesus, too, said the answer existed before the problem, &#8211; &#8220;Before you ask, I will answer, and while you are yet speaking, I shall give it unto you&#8221;, &#8211; and again, &#8220;Thank you, Father, I knew that this was done&#8221;, &#8211; in this latter instance, making concession to the mass-mind which believes something must be done. Yet He did not touch the woman who was healed in the crowds. She touched Him. The wonderful recognition in her came forth and met the perpetual agreement of His consciousness, and the answer, which always had existed, became a reality to her.</p>
<p>Jesus was not pleased with blood-sacrifice, &#8211; asking only the sacrifice of the human thought with its limitations and its terrific bondage. He was always looking for someone who could take it, &#8211; -always seeking a temple-body who would stand up to the point of equality with Him. That great unselfishness on His part is the God-Love within Him, and within us. He found it once in the Centurion who came boldly up to Him with recognition of the Power and who deigned to set himself on an equal level when it came to authority. &#8220;I have not seen so great a faith, &#8211; no, not in all Israel!&#8221; How would you like that to be said of you?</p>
<p>What do you suppose the widow&#8217;s mite meant to a Man who could with impunity feed five thousand? But it was important enough to be recorded. The motive of the widow was greater than the &#8220;measure&#8221; of the rich.</p>
<p>As long as we continue to imprison this beautiful revelation of Jesus in garb, books, teachers and temples, it will be nothing but another philosophy. Most of Jesus&#8217; teachings were given out of doors, He went seldom in the Temple. When He did, He astounded them with His Light, &#8211; and they began the old roundelay, &#8220;How does this man speak, seeing- he has no learning&#8221;. They went even farther than this in the protection of their limited views of life and were glad to shout at Him when He was going through His greatest manifestation, &#8211; &#8220;He saved others, &#8211; Himself he cannot save&#8221;. Yes, and the derisive shouts, &#8220;Come down from the cross&#8221;. Had He done this, &#8211; and He could have, &#8211; He would have defeated the purpose of His teachings and we would still be awaiting the Messiah who would save the world. What world? Your world, of course, &#8211; the only world you know anything about.</p>
<p>A thousand religions have been hung upon Him, like barnacles on a ship. This is no diatribe against any of them, but nevertheless, there can be only ONE interpretation of the Truth that two times two are four. True, you can write it in Roman numerals or even signs, but the principle is ONE and remains unchanged and eternal, &#8211; regardless of opinions to the contrary.</p>
<p>Simpler than the laws of mathematics are the laws of Truth. A child can understand and employ them through the capacity of the unsullied mind which accepts and brings out that acceptance with apparent ease. When the child-like consciousness enters a thing; all the universe cooperates to bring it about, &#8211; all of which is foolishness to the adult mind whose greatest capacity is to commit adultery. It will endeavor to take away such beautiful laws from the child through false education. He learns to smile with tolerance or derision at the things he formerly believed possible, stumbling along through the morass of human life until finally he comes to an insurmountable hurdle. Then he may realize there is something greater than John Smith and all his intellection, plus that of all his text-books and teachers, &#8211; and perhaps he will &#8220;let go&#8221; and (&#8216;let God&#8221; into expression through his body-temple and be saved. Saved from what? His own thought creation.</p>
<p>The Philistines did the same thing, and finally a giant named Goliath dominated that city (state of consciousness) so completely that it was faced with destruction. Then comes the point of LIGHT, David with his sling and five pebbles, &#8211; the five senses which had been extended into the consciousness of Cod, &#8211; marking the end of Goliath.</p>
<p>To be of any real worth, this law cannot be a will-o-the-wisp of imagination which works sometimes, any more than can the law of mathematics. &#8220;Having eyes, ye see not, &#8211; and ears, ye hear not&#8221;. Why? Because you are so blinded by the accepted appearances of your creating (your giant) that you know you are about to be destroyed by it.</p>
<p>It takes but one pebble, &#8211; but one sense extended beyond the human limitations, to do the trick. &#8220;Open your eyes!&#8221; You say they are open, and you are straining to see. But there is nothing to see on the outside, not yet, &#8211; the sight is within.</p>
<p>All the commands appear to be physical, to call for some physical action, &#8211; but unless they are heard, the physical remains helpless under the control of the limitations of its belief. When the hearing is extended to the point of acceptance, then the command becomes physical and you can and will &#8220;arise and walk&#8221;.</p>
<p>Jesus did not see five thousand loaves and two thousand fishes with his physical eyes, neither the fields white with grain, until He saw them within, then the consciousness was projected into the realm of manifestation.</p>
<p>I like to think of Jesus walking through the wheat-fields and along the beaches, sandals scuffed just as ours would be. He was so natural as to be a present possibility here and now. The glorious recognition of the Presence was always waiting to come forth at every turn of the road. He constantly endeavored to ensnare men with His love, &#8211; to awaken them to their own possibilities.</p>
<p>The &#8220;well done thou good and faithful servant&#8221; will not come through lip service, nor yet through sacrifice, &#8211; but through going forth and doing likewise, &#8211; stepping out on the waters of human beliefs. Every time we act from the consciousness of God within, we smash patterns of human beliefs, &#8211; and so the leper is healed or made clean. One of the old prophets showed the nothingness of human disease when he put his hand in his bosom and took it out white with leprosy, and with the same gesture, brought it forth clean. How did he do it? By thinking? Saying words? Mantras? Or following a human belief? What do you say?</p>
<p>Why are we awed at the thought of Jesus either in tweeds or in flowing robes? Is it a false sense of modesty? The hypocritical human mind is so humble and meek when it wants anything, &#8211; and so boastful and ugly when it seems to be sailing on calm seas.</p>
<p>&#8220;In ALL thy ways, acknowledge HIM, and He shall (not maybe, or perhaps) bring it to pass.)&#8217; Is that good enough. It is entirely fool-proof, &#8211; there isn&#8217;t the &#8220;exception which proves the rule&#8221; to the human thought. There is one hundred percent delivery of the promise.</p>
<p>As you read the teachings of Jesus you will see there are no pastel shades, but pure, primary colors. When He makes an experiment in the laboratory of Life, He takes the ultimate in impossibility, &#8211; never some lesser gradation. He does not work with tints, nuances and shades of color, but makes His picture &#8220;contrasty&#8221; by the use of the primary colors. Such pictures as the one of a man being born blind, &#8211; not a case of faulty eye-sight or a blindness which had come upon a man, &#8211; but a case of blindness from birth. And again, a man dead four days, with the ugly picture of putrefaction and all the beliefs, or for that matter; the absolute knowledge of the human mind.</p>
<p>And the indifference of it all, &#8211; such a Divine indifference which freed reality from the self-hypnosis of human thought. &#8220;Whereas, before I was blind, NOW I can see.&#8221; Was it dramatic? Yes, very! But is it still the peculiar powers of one man? He has shown and said in a thousand ways that every man has the gift within him as a natural expression of Life flowing through his temple. Why will we continue to judge from appearances, following the stupid thought-pattern of saying, &#8220;I am sick but God will heal me&#8221;. Does God know sickness then? And if so, by what means can He destroy it?</p>
<p>Nothing is destroyed because we bring Christ Jesus down to earth. As a matter of fact, He is already here, but until we have the consciousness of it, we cannot live in His presence. This has nothing to do with the psychic disturbances that bring accounts of His appearing from time to time. When He appears it is because our consciousness is on the level of His, &#8211; and then He and much more will be made plain to us.</p>
<p>Jesus was not psychic, &#8211; but He had the Spiritual gift of Prescience which enabled Him to see all concerning the person into whose presence He came. And the lady at the well mistook this wonderful revelation as just another fortune-telling. She was so excited by the accounts of her private life that she did not hear, &#8220;If you had asked ME, I would have given you to drink of the Waters of Life, which if a man drink thereof, he will never thirst again&#8221;.</p>
<p>So now we have Jesus in tweeds, &#8211; going to a Hollywood wedding, just as He went to a wedding in Cana in flowing robes. We must take Him out of the &#8220;clouds&#8221; of human belief and recognize Him as the Elder Brother, born of the same Father, even as you and I, if we want to hear, &#8220;I have not seen such faith, &#8211; no, not in all Hollywood !&#8221;</p>
<p>He would probably be offered a movie contract. He was offered the kingdoms of the world if He would perform a certain &#8216;stunt&#8217; that would amaze the groundlings, &#8211; such a little feat as turning stones into bread. And I am sure He would smile, &#8211; He has such a magnificent sense of humor.</p>
<p>Let us have Jesus natural and real, &#8211; honest-to-goodness reality. Let us drop the dramatic, emotional worship and &#8220;come boldly to the throne of grace&#8221; and bear away the Gift of Life Eternal.</p>
<p>Let us have Jesus in tweeds!</p>
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		<title>What Would Jesus Wear Today?</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=71</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=71#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:15:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Spiritual Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holy Spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus Today]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lanyon]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p>This post is from an author named Walter Lanyon. He lived and worked in the early to mid nineteen hundreds.  He was a prolific author of spiritual books, and plays, and I believe that Mr. Lanyon was also a painter.  He lived His life for God, a most admirable conquest. Thank you, Mr. Lanyon.</p>
<p>In this [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This post is from an author named Walter Lanyon. He lived and worked in the early to mid nineteen hundreds.  He was a prolific author of spiritual books, and plays, and I believe that Mr. Lanyon was also a painter.  He lived His life for God, a most admirable conquest. Thank you, Mr. Lanyon.</p>
<p>In this article, which we will post over 3 days, we are encouraged to see Jesus as natural and normal, so that we can understand what He was trying to teach us. The tendency of man is to put God far off in an impossibly distant land where we cannot contact Him, nor He us, unless we are a saint. God wants to engage us on a personal and real level here and now. He wants to prove to us that He and His kingdom are not imaginary or removed from us at all. If we can see Jesus moving and living among us maybe we will begin to understand what He was trying to say. What would Jesus wear today? Listen.</p>
<p>JESUS IN TWEEDS</p>
<p>Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, &#8211; even the death of the cross.&#8221;</p>
<p>THE DRAMATIC INSTINCT in man is so strong that whenever he mentions or thinks of Jesus, he automatically places Him in a theatrical background, so glorified as to set it completely apart from the remotest possibility of naturalness. He forgets that at the time of Jesus, flowing robes, purple, fine linen and long hair were the vogue of that time, just as sack suits and military haircuts are today.</p>
<p>There is no mention made of the robes of Jesus being outstandingly beautiful. True, there was the seamless robe, &#8211; not so much a comment on His clothes, perhaps, as an illustration of the wholeness of His teaching. In fact, Jesus asked the very pertinent question, &#8211; &#8220;What went ye out for to see&#8221;, &#8211; a fashion show, or to hear a revelation. It is more than possible that the rich young man mentioned in the Bible, as well as many others, were dressed in silks and brocades.</p>
<p>Have we, then, been caught in the very thing against which He cautioned us? Is this beautiful teaching and revelation given us by Jesus as a usable every-day pattern of life always to be wrapped in dramatics? Will we perpetually be an audience watching a drama?</p>
<p>The tendency to glamorize anyone in the limelight is common to all men. It has a tremendous financial urge back of it. But as with Jesus, so with all the idols of the stage, &#8211; sooner or later lots will be cast for the robes. The sport of the human mind is to build an idol, &#8211; and then attempt to discover its clay feet.</p>
<p>And again, the décor and background against which Jesus moved were natural and normal to the times.</p>
<p>Can you imagine Jesus in a tweed suit? At first the idea shocks the sensibilities. But suppose He was with us today, &#8211; or rather, suppose your consciousness was of such a level as to permit you to see Him today, &#8211; would you want Him to go about in flowing robes True, there is yet this practice in America, a thousand and one &#8220;prophets&#8221; and &#8220;teachers&#8221; have donned robes entirely out of keeping with the times, playing on the dramatic value, &#8211; and people have followed. But Jesus was of all things, natural and normal. He said definitely, &#8220;I live in the world, but not of it&#8221;. This did not set Him apart anymore then than it would now, for we find ample proof of His moving with the people, high and low. In fact, He was accused of being a friend of harlots and wine bibbers. Jesus was unafraid to live His life. He held no brief with hypocrisy and spiritual wickedness, gossip or scandal,</p>
<p>Can you imagine Jesus and His mother attending a wedding of a Hollywood star? Well, why not? They attended a wedding-feast in Cana, which from the record, was very spirited, to say the least, &#8211; not very much different from our present-day affairs.</p>
<p>There is no intent to take from the Glory of Jesus, &#8211; but rather to emphasize the fundamental Truth of His teaching. It is not difficult for one to bend the knees at the Name of Jesus, so great is our reverence for Him, &#8211; but just reverence for a dramatic or historical character is not sufficient. If Jesus ever was sad or disconsolate, it must have been when He asked the question, &#8211; &#8220;Have I been so long with you, and yet &#8230; ?&#8221; He did not want them to set Him aside or apart in any way whatsoever. He only wanted what every true teacher and revelator wants, &#8211; namely, that the students and followers absorb and use the teachings, rather than deify the teacher. He wanted them not only to do the works He did, but to exceed Him, &#8211; assuring them they could. &#8220;The works I do, ye shall also do, &#8211; and greater than these shall ye do.&#8221;</p>
<p>Until we take away the dramatic, emotional side of our acceptance of the beautiful Revelation, the whole endeavor is reduced to a fascinating story of a man, &#8211; and is of no practical use to us in every-day life.</p>
<p>You would laugh at the idea that every time you approached mathematics, you would have to put on a special garment of ancient origin and arrange yourself against a special back-ground of proper dramatic value.</p>
<p>We know that mathematics is not affected by race, color or creed. Neither is it more operative in one temperature than in another, nor is it more present in a magnificent university than in the little red school-house, or for that matter, the slums of a great city. All that is necessary is the recognition of the law of mathematics for the unfoldment from simple addition to the most complicated equation in relativity.</p>
<p>Talking of and about mathematics will not work out a problem, no matter how ever much you respect it. Unless you become a mathematician in one degree or another, nothing happens. And when you do, the stream of power comes through you, uses your body through which to express, &#8211; -proving the problem was already solved. Every mathematician knows the answers to all problems already exist, whether he is aware of the answer or not. But the recognition of it as passing through him enables him to arrive at the already established fact.</p>
<p>So with the Revelation of Jesus, &#8211; it is everywhere present, is no respecter of persons, is as available to the greatest criminal as to the most high priest. It is just as present in the worst hell-hole as in the lofty temple. Being everywhere, it is nowhere until it is recognized and &#8220;let&#8221; into manifestation, and it is of no value until this takes place.<br />
&#8230;To Be Continued</p>
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		<title>Illusion vs. Reality</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=68</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=68#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:12:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jane</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Meditations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God is Present]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life Is]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Removing the Veil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Truth]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p>I read a story of a man who was in WWII in China. There were Chinese who were fighting alongside the American Troops. One Chinese man befriended the American Captain and somehow showed him to see through the eyes of God.</p>
<p>God would never see war for He is Peace. He would see beauty where it [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I read a story of a man who was in WWII in China. There were Chinese who were fighting alongside the American Troops. One Chinese man befriended the American Captain and somehow showed him to see through the eyes of God.</p>
<p>God would never see war for He is Peace. He would see beauty where it appeared that destruction was all around &#8211; in other words the American soldier saw through the illusion of war and was able to see the beauty of flowers on a mountainside. When confronted by death, a Presence (perhaps an angel) came to him on the battlefield and he &#8220;knew&#8221; that Life was eternal and that seeming death was an illusion.</p>
<p>My great desire is to &#8220;see&#8221; through the illusions i.e. lack, limitation, sickness, loneliness, fear, etc. and &#8220;see&#8221; the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven hear and now. In God there are no illusions. Illusions are like things that wave their hands in front of us saying &#8220;Pay attention to me!&#8221;. God is Reality &#8211; life &#8211; abundance &#8211; joy &#8211; peace. We recognize a veil (a belief) over our eyes as we see the Reality of a Kingdom that has no end, and that Kingdom is within us. Our recognition of Truth removes the veil.</p>
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		<title>By Grace</title>
		<link>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=60</link>
		<comments>http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/?p=60#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:46:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jane</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Poetry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BeautyLove]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forgiveness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[God]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guidance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Holy Spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Thank You Father]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Cross]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Grace is what we have as children of God, trough the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We now stand forgiven, cleansed, holy in the presence of God. No questions asked. Thank you [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is nothing I do, or anything I have</p>
<p>That qualifies me for your throne.</p>
<p>It is all by grace that I stand</p>
<p>I receive your life, I receive your love</p>
<p>I receive your forgiveness to stand</p>
<p>As a child of God, accepted and loved</p>
<p>It is all by grace that I stand</p>
<p>There is nothing I do, nor anything I have</p>
<p>That qualifies me for your throne.</p>
<p>You have given to me your life and love</p>
<p>It is all by grace that I stand.</p>
<p>It is all by grace, it is all thru love</p>
<p>That I stand forgiven and cleansed</p>
<p>Called to live, in the Kingdom of God</p>
<p>It is all thru grace that I stand.</p>
<p>As I enter your Kingdom</p>
<p>I receive new life:  I exchange my</p>
<p>Rags for your throne.</p>
<p>My robes are worn thru the grace you gave</p>
<p>It is all thru grace that I stand.</p>
<p>Ere I think that anything I could do</p>
<p>Would earn me the right to your throne</p>
<p>To sit with you in the kingdom of God</p>
<p>I know its thru grace that I stand.</p>
<p>-Jane E. Pierce</p>
<div id="attachment_61" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 250px"><a href="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/05-01P2.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-61" title="&quot;By Grace&quot;" src="http://skyrivergallery.com/considerations/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/05-01P2-240x300.jpg" alt="&quot;By Grace&quot;" width="240" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">&quot;By Grace&quot;</p></div>
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