Just Be Glad
O heart of mine, we shouldn’t Worry so!
What we’ve missed of calm we couldn’t Have, you know!
What we’ve met of stormy pain, And of sorrow’s driving rain, We can better meet again,
If it blow!
We have erred in that dark hour We have known,
When our tears fell with the shower, All alone!—
Were not shine and shower blent As the gracious Master meant?— Let us temper our content
With His own.
For, we know, not every morrow Can be sad;
So, forgetting all the sorrow We have had,
Let us fold away our fears,
And put by our foolish tears, And through all the coming years
Just be glad.
James Whitcomb Riley.
Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?
Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.
“All things and all people … call on us with small or loud voices. They want us to listen. They want us to understand their intrinsic claims, their justice of being. We can give it to them only through the love that listens.” Paul Tillich
What if each of us were able to listen to another without interruption?
What if each of us were able to understand each another without letting our innate biases color our understanding?
What if each of us felt accepted unconditionally as we are at the present moment?
I speak for myself. I’d like that kind of world. How about you?
