Continuing with my Laws of the Spiritual Universe series, I’d like to talk about gardening. Yep. You read that right. Gardening.

This spring I planted a marigold seed and guess what came up? Uh-huh! A marigold plant! Now it has flowers on it and some of the flowers have gone to seed. In place of one tiny seed, I have hundreds of marigold seeds! Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it, that you harvest whatever you plant?

Well, in this case, the spiritual law is the same. The types of seeds (attitudes or beliefs) you sow determine the fruit (manifestations) that you receive in your life. What you put out determines what comes back to you. Solomon said that if you cast your bread upon the water, after many days, it will return to you. “Give and it will be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over it shall be poured (dumped, heaped) into your lap.” (Luke 6:38 NIV) I’ve heard it said that opposites attract. That’s not true in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, deep calls out to deep and iron sharpens iron. In other words, like attracts like or what you put out is what you get back.

If you want joy, then share joy. Laugh with others. Do random acts of kindness. Smile at people, even if they don’t smile back. If you choose to be joyful, you will draw people with positive energy into your life. The opposite is also true. Ever heard that old saying, “Misery loves company?” Well, it does. Some people will be uncomfortable around your joy and will attempt to bring you down to their level. Don’t let them. Some may want to siphon off your energy because they haven’t learned this law yet. You can’t force a spiritual understanding upon someone who isn’t “there” yet. Just be you in front of them and hope that one day they grow into it. People mature physically and mentally at different rates. They also mature spiritually at different rates. A thirty-year-old may be spiritually more mature than an eighty-year-old or vice versa. Natural age and spiritual age don’t always correspond.

Share joy as if you’re full of it and eventually, you will be. Laugh a little bit everyday. Find the positive in every situation, no matter how small it may be. Find it and celebrate it.

Planting seeds of gratitude for what you have and doing the best you can with what you’ve got without being bitter, critical and complaining will open doors for you that you could only imagine were possible. Being grateful for small blessings leads to bigger opportunities. It may not happen immediately, but keep celebrating. Keep smiling. Keep hoping and don’t let bitterness, cynicism, jadedness and a critical outlook steal your joy. Constant complaining leads to more things to complain about!

That doesn’t mean that you’ll never experience a down time in your life. Every farmer can tell you that there are times of drought and times of rain. There are times when you have to fight off insects and plagues, but ultimately, the general law is that if you plant corn, you get corn. In the same way, spiritually you might have to stand up to doubt and tell it to take a backseat in your life or you might have to look fear in the eye and tell it to take a hike.

This leads me to my next point–giving. Some people give and then later come back to collect on the gift. That kind of giving has its own reward and that reward is limited, but if you give, expecting nothing in return, then all of heaven will pour out on you when the time is right and you will stand amazed at the blessings (another word for JOY) in your life. When we give, it ought not to be because it looks good or seems like the “right thing to do.” We shouldn’t give out of guilt or obligation, ever. For the law of giving to work, it has to be done because you WANT to do it, because it makes you happy to do it!

In conclusion, whatever you do, do it with all your heart, not begrudgingly (or because you feel like you are obligated, guilted or indebted) but because you want to and it makes you happy. Deep calls out to deep, like draws like, you reap what you sow and as you think in your heart (believe about yourself) that’s what you are. Don’t let anyone else define you because their vision is still small or because they lack faith, hope or joy. Don’t let their fear lie to you about who you are or what you have. Plant marigold seeds, reap marigolds. Plant joy, reap joy. Plant kindness, reap kindness. Plant faith (evidence of the unseen; calling what is not as if though it were), reap the unseen.