“I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.” –Og Mandino
When I got this quotation in my Daily Love email, I was immediately drawn to it. Because I’m a person who stays away from extremes, I find opposites intriguing. That’s why I wanted to tackle this one in the blog. I’m gonna go line by line.
I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. As I was telling a friend today, life is all about perspective, and when we look at things from a more holistic perspective, it changes everything. So when I start with love as my basis and my lens for viewing life, I can find the beauty and the positive in just about anything. And it is something that has to be done intentionally. Most people didn’t grow up with a positive, mature, love-shaped view of things. And in a way, this will help us to be born again in the sense of being a new person with a new perspective.
I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. The sun is a beautiful thing. It’s heat provides life and a soothing warmth. Most people don’t like the rain and especially storms, but rain has beautiful benefits. For allergy sufferers, a spring rain can bring reprieve of pollen as it washes the earth and refreshes the air. Though it may keep us from outdoor activities, it has can even be fun to play in if you are adventurous enough to let down your inhibitions and have fun with it.
I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. The light makes things easier to see – that’s obvious. But darkness, while it hides some things, brings others to light. As you know from reading my blog, I’m a big fan of stars, and they can only be seen when it’s dark. Sometimes darkness in life allows things to become visible that would otherwise remain hidden. When we feel alone and in a dark place, we can see strength to survive and push through that lighter times wouldn’t allow us to find.
I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. Happiness is always the preferred feeling. It makes our very beings swell with exuberance, filling us and our space with positive feelings. It’s as if we can breathe deeper when we are allowed to relax and enjoy happiness. At the same time, while we never want sadness and hard times, it is those times that tend to make us look within and find depth to ourselves. It also allows us to deepen our connections with others who share in our pain and provide comfort when we know how to reach out. Love lets us see beyond the moment’s sadness to the bigger picture and possibilities.
I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge. It is always great to be rewarded especially when you’ve been working hard. To receive what you are due can bring great pride and a feeling of accomplishment. At the same time, many of the accomplishments we achieve wouldn’t mean half as much without the obstacles we had to go through to get there. Though we typically get frustrated when we have to face something that hinders us, when we look at the obstacles as stepping stones, we can have a more positive perspective about them. Yes, we have to be realistic about the fact that obstacles are tough, but we don’t have to let them drive us to drink or defeat us.
As an example from my own life, I can say that obstacles have had an amazing way of helping me and bringing about rewards. In recent months, I have found myself dealing with relational issues that have made me cry and stress and dig deep into myself. While it has been painful and I haven’t always been able to see the forest (the big, holistic picture) for the trees (what was happening in the moment and upsetting me), I’ve had some divine help to understand that my struggles aren’t just random things happening to me. Through friendships ending, beginning, taking new shape, and just being maintained, I have found not only great love in myself but in others and in God. Though things seemed like obstacles, they were actually just difficult moments that caused me to go deeper into myself and come out with more of me and better ways of thinking and living.
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