When the Fire Burns the Leaves

"Wise men say it is a fool who makes a gaurantee off of another man's promise." ~Banton
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph." ~His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie

My husband and I have befun to break up the ground and plant seeds in our little hot house for our garden. All of this process has been an amazing thing to see. How ground that hasn't even been broken up yet can be made ready to plant and to use. If you've ever had a good garden you know how much work they can be! After a long day of garden or yard work the best thing to do is RELAX and let your mind wander. In every good garden there is an essential ingredient which is called love and care. You are planting life - not just a food source; you are planting an amazing, living thing. Nourish, love and care for it and it will respond to you. In order to do that you MUST be rested and peaceful yourself.
One of the gardens that we were planting is close to a couple of pine trees which can cause the ground to be slightly acidic, so we were having our bonfires on this garden area so as to till in the ashes which helps the soil to become more alkaline. This area was just the perfect area to sit around a fire and talk, or to cook over the fire and eat together. On moments where we were all working together around the fire I noticed that more work got done as long as that fire was going.

In our lives we all have so much to learn and we have so much potential to do great things, but sometimes we need to be reminded to keep the fire going. A large bonfire starts with only a little spark. It doesn't matter what stage your fire is in, if you continue to feed it and to give it what it needs, it will grow. Watching a fire consume a 1/4 acre of wood and brush was an amazing thing to see and as we prepared to till the ground I could see how these acts reflect in our own lives.

It seems that in this place there are a myriad of things that try to catch our attention and to make it's way into our mind. We are constantly learning, constantly taking in what our eyes see and our ears hear and our nose smells. If we are constantly ingesting things into our minds that do not have a place in a natural mind we are going to destroy the peace and cause unrest. Many times in my own life I have seen a thought process that was causing me to feel a certain way, then I would think about it some more and sitting and staring into that fire I realized what I needed to do. Someone once told me when I was teenager, "If you don't like that thought, have another one.", and I began to think, well, instead of letting some kind of deception or evil thought sit in your mind and fester what would you rather be thinking of? Grace. Love. Joy. Faith. Trust. Peace.... So I began to break up the ground of my mind so that I could plant seeds of those things and the amazing thing was how my whole attitude and outlook on life changed. Things became more clear to me, I felt calm, peaceful, rooted and grounded. There comes a time when one has to stop planting things that have no validity and plant those things in your mind that sustain you and nourish you.
Living on this earth is a gift every day and we cannot take for granted the things that we are given here. Everyone has A LOT of reasons to be grateful for life and for the Energy that sustains us. Knock a few weeds out of your head and you'll be able to see it.
Now, if you're going to be working outside around a fire all day and contemplating you're going to get pretty hungry. I absolutely LOVE to cook over open fires. Whether I put a cake into a cast iron dutch oven or I cook hot dogs on a stick it's my favorite place to cook!  There are only a couple of things that you have to remember when cooking over a fire; one, it's HOT. Keep gloves and spatulas nearby so that you don't burn yourself on anything. Different places in the fire have different heat levels, find the place that works the best for the item that you were cooking. If you are trying to perk coffee make sure it's over the flame or on a rock in the flame so that it can get hot enough to perk. 
So, as you start to find the weeds that need to be pulled and the ground that needs to be dug remember that there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. Let your heart relax and enjoy the scent of the grace, love, joy, happiness, faith, trust and PEACE. If you see someone stumble help them up, it will help you to walk better.

JAH BLESS!