Welcome to our new Sunday Morning Service by Dr. Dean A. Banks, D.D. Every week Dr. Dean will be engaging subjects that are pertinent to your growth and expansion into recognition of; respect to; and communication with your inner spirit. Please feel free to comment or suggest topics for review. May the Divine always bless you and your families! ~Dean A. Banks, D.D.

SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE WITH
DR. DEAN A. BANKS, D.D.

"THE GREENER GRASS"

FEBRUARY 18

Next, I would like to talk about generating and maintaining great ideas. We'll focus on the following quote:

"The grass is always greener on the other side, but you still have to mow it!" - Unknown Author.

This quote sums up the possible actions one might take when they get a great idea. It's not enough to get a great idea. To bring it to fruition, you have to move your feet. The three step process of Prayer, Meditation and Service is the formula for accomplishing all of your desires.

Sometimes what the other guy has seems more attractive than what you have. This quote seems to go hand in hand with the quote "keeping up with the Joneses." Your grass requires a great deal of attention to be as green and healthy as it can be. But what is the other guy doing that makes his grass greener? Is it the way he plants it? The timing of his planting? The fertilizer he uses? How often he waters the grass? It could be a combination of all of these things but it is more than likely it is how he maintains it.

You could do all of the things mentioned above and still get crabgrass. What is his secret? What can it be that I've missed? No matter how well you plan things out and project possible scenarios, something inevitably comes up that you hadn't anticipated. It doesn't mean that you are stupid or not observant; it simply means that you didn't do everything you needed to do to make the grass greener. The secret is not in establishing an idea, but in maintaining it.

Maintenance of an idea gives you the opportunity to see firsthand how your idea is progressing. If you don't get your hands in the dirt, how will you know how it feels? Green grass requires strong and healthy seeds, fertile soil, good timing in planting, frequent watering and ongoing maintenance. But even with the most beautiful of green grass, it will choke itself without being cut. Mowing the grass allows the grass to be evenly lit and receive equal nourishment from the Sun.

As with the grass, your ideas must be strong and healthy, have a fertile environment in which to grow, must be initiated in a timely fashion, receive the proper nourishment and have to be modified as a result of your ongoing maintenance. Examining your idea as you maintain it in effect is like mowing the grass. It allows the idea to be modified to fit its environment. Even the guy across the street has to mow the lawn to maintain the green. No matter where you plant your idea, you have to do what it takes to maintain it or it will never be any greener than it is now.

Sometimes it appears that the other guy is working a lot less than you are and he is getting better results. If this is the case, you need to employ the M.O.V.E. acronym. Maintain, Observe, Verify and Execute. Maintenance allows us to get our hands in the dirt. There we can observe what is really happening. By testing new ways to cultivate our ideas, we can verify what has caused it to progress (greener) or regress (crabgrass). Finally, when we have gathered sufficient evidence, we can execute a new plan to make our ideas flourish in a better environment.

Ideas come from the well-spring of thought. Treat them as well as you treat your lawn. Just because someone else has the same idea doesn't mean that their method of actualizing that idea is any better than yours. Pay attention to the environment in which your ideas grow and formulate a new plan of attack to implement those ideas. Start your mowers!

How to maintain that great idea...

1. Determine the need for your ideas.
2. Observe what others are doing with their ideas.
3. Verify that your ideas are valid by testing them in different scenarios.
4. Execute different methods of implementing your ideas.
5. Observe the results of these methods.
6. Determine which methods allow your ideas to flourish.
7. Take the necessary steps to market your ideas to those who need to use them.

Excerpted from the book "Spiritual Growth: Articles Of Expectation." Please click here to order the book:

https://www.createspace.com/3691279

©2018 Dean A. Banks, D.D. All Rights Reserved.