Love is a form of wisdom . . which often times, as in all aspects of life, we learn to “do better” as we age, or is it? It is so very natural to us when we’re younger, we just know how to be love when we were babies without knowing how, but at some age we probably cannot even remember if we tried, we start to cast a lot of our life’s baggage, neediness, messes, hurt & limitations in the mix, weighing love down & throttling its natural ability to be what it first was so easily to us.
We were just love once. We didn’t need to study it, to measure it, to define it, to control it, to change ourselves, to change others, to suffer for it or manipulate it. We just loved instinctively, once. But aging, life & our wounds make it so heavy & downtrodden, so full of feelings, in that they alter our concept of it, even though love itself hasn’t changed. Some of us find ourselves seeking it from others when we forget or have never really loved ourselves. We desire being in love with that person who’ll verify in us something. We aren’t sure we can now assure it in ourselves. We look within a veritable sea of people for one person who’ll find our love to be worthy. Yet it doesn’t seem that odd in a world where, just by virtue of the sheer numbers of people, just given all the necessity & the need we see for love & with all the inherent ability we had when born. That we strive so much & have to overcome so much just for us to give our love away “easily”?
What a vexation is this love! If only we could remember that we are love, we haven’t anything in us or anything that has befallen us which casts it out. We haven’t anything which stops us from love once we’re sure we have it within us. So why do we let fear, baggage, analytic nonsense, need & the like to stop the flow of love? Love isn’t a problem, we are! Our wisdom comes from learning how to be love again! We’ve assigned to that which once flowed so naturally within us, a heavier weight, a costlier price-tag & a messier consequence. We’ve dammed the very flow from within & we wonder why we thirst?! If we could only love ourselves enough to open the floodgates & again love naturally, wouldn’t we all be so welcoming the flood?! It’s the one flood in which we should all hope to drown!
As this year draws to a close, many find reason to happily close the doors upon this one, as it was simply not the type of year they had envisioned. Some things changed, things happened, pain ensued & their personal history became altered. But the truth of life is in the fact that it is ever-changing, ever-testing, ever-filled with those elements which try us & make us stalwart in who we are. We would never be much of anything were it not for the wisdom learned through our tests, the strength built through each battle & the compassion learned by being hurt. We aren’t here to live half-lives of just the pleasant & the rewarding, for they aren’t the moments which build much of any character in us. We can pray, hope & wish for only those types of moments, but reality will rear a head more authentic, & we will have to develop something within us that permits us to be more, to do better & to live happily regardless. My hope for each of us as we move on in life is to see the pathway illuminated less precisely but with more clarity by recognizing our own inability to control everything. We must see our very need to cede power but retain strength in all life events which are concurrently happening around us as well, our inherent desire to live faithfully & with a sense of contentment regardless the circumstances. It is possible to make 2013 a better year now sight unseen, just by changing your mindset & securing that outcome. It is truly up to you! Life won’t probably be all that less challenging, the world will be just as chaotic, but you will be standing firmly & resolutely on solid ground regardless. And that is the great truth of life . . the firmament you seek is within you!
Many will want to hurry into a new year, for they see it as a door closing on a bad time, leaving only possibility for a better time in the future. They are right! But they’re only right because they’ve made up their minds to see it that way. 2013 has no promises & no guarantees attached, it comes not with a disclaimer or a series of known days. It just opens in its newness, just like every other …year we’ve had. We can wonder what we’ll find, but we mustn’t presume to know. We might have planned some days ahead, but even those are really just wishes until they materialize & become a part of our history. We are blessed with so many gifts each day, we often times take our gifts for granted for the sheer numbers of them have just numbed us to seeing them day in & day out. We have our loved ones with us, our friends beside us, our co-workers who enable us to do our jobs, our furry friends, our activities that brighten each day, nature all around us blooming – changing & creating a canvas of beauty in the background into which we paint ourselves in the foreground. God has blessed us abundantly, & we owe it to Him, to ourselves & to others to recognize our gifts just for what they are. Be thankful you are approaching this new year of possibility & rest in the assurance that no matter what it brings, you can find your peace, contentment & joy in life for sure!
It’s just the start of a new year & you should try to make it count, making it worthwhile, making it the best one yet by putting your emotions in check, by choosing to live instead not by them, but by your own powerful & affirmative ability to sail & venture into life. You should be assured that you will weather storms yet to be projected even! You, after all, are the captain of your own ship, where will you sail this year? Will you remain docked in the same place, because you dare not venture out beyond your comfort zone? Will you sail out only to the break for that is the furthest you dare go for fear of what lies ahead? Or will you, master & commander of your own ship, sail beyond all the places you have dared to go before to face uncharted waters even?! 
cherylriesauthor 