Be a light in the dark
What do you want for your life, and what do you want for the lives of your children? Universally, the answer is the same: “happiness.” Finding and expanding happiness is part of our Divine purpose as a human being. The brighter and more loving we are, the more God can experience and share our life with us. That is why we search for it and want to expand and maintain it when we find it. This goes far beyond the comfort we may feel with the material things we possess, and can be expressed and received in many ways. There are things we can do every day to achieve and maintain this deeper feeling of joy. And love and gratitude are crucial parts of keeping it.
On the one hand, remember that you are not alone in your desire to be happy and that almost everyone wants the same thing, even if you are not seeing it outwardly. For example, although acts of love and gratitude occur millions of times at all times around the world, they are not the ones that attract media attention. A rare segment at the end of a newscast or the back cover of a newspaper may mention an act of heroism, but in reality they are not rare at all. Huge difficulties are being successfully overcome every day by people who choose to move forward with the choice of love. Take the time to search for these stories, they can be found everywhere; on the Internet, magazines, by word of mouth. Maybe even keep a file so you can remember the love in the world and that the heart of humanity in general is good, even though many of these expressions of love and gratitude are often hidden from the world.
We hold a door open and a stranger says “thank you” and we smile. We send a card or an email showing our gratitude for another person and gladden their heart. In that universal expression of happiness, the smile shows the love that we are feeling in our hearts, even more so, in our souls. Do you feel satisfaction and inner warmth? That is knowing that you are doing what you should be doing. You are feeling that connection with God that you were created with, the spark of light flickering within you. “God is love. He who lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16) How many times in your own life have you taken that extra step, or been thankful to another person for the step you have taken? We may not have run into a burning building or been pulled out of one, but how many fights do we feel like we’re doing exactly that? Even by giving or receiving a hug or a word of encouragement, very real fires can be put out and lives changed for the better, if the decision is made at that opportunity. And it is a choice, a personal choice that can be made several times a day.
In reality, our happiness depends on making only two choices in life: love or fear. The choice of love will always move us forward, while fear stagnates and freezes us. This is also why we can look at any place of immobilization in our life and know that better decisions can be made there. We are created as sparks of the Divine flame. So fear and stagnation are not in our comfort zone and will continue to create feelings of sadness, incompleteness, and despair; but as we continue to choose love, that light expands and grows into a bright fire of inner joy and happiness. Although it may not always be easy to show love and gratitude in our daily lives, when we do it always creates a beautiful ripple effect, whether we see it visually at the time or not. As an added bonus, our spirit knows that we are doing what we came here to do, and as this inner happiness expands, we feel more comfortable, at peace, and confident. And since our spirit resides within our physical body, in addition to the spiritual and emotional benefits we receive, there are also very tangible health benefits.
A beautiful ice crystal, with more facets than any jeweler could cut, is shown in the first photo of Dr. Emoto’s famous book “The Hidden Messages in Water.” This was the result of wrapping the two words Love and Gratitude around a bottle of water, freezing a sample, and then photographing a portion of the result. “This crystal is as perfect as can be. This indicates that love and gratitude are fundamental to the phenomenon of life in all of nature.” This is a repeatable scientific result of positive physical changes that occur when love and gratitude are expressed. It changes things around us, balances and purifies; and water is just a sample of it, which is part and parcel of about 70% of our bodies, and the same proportion of ocean to land on earth. This is also a good reminder to say a thankful prayer or blessing for our food and water before we eat it. Isn’t it interesting to see the big picture of why humanity in so many cultures and countries has felt compelled to do this for thousands of years? That spirit within us knows and compels us, even though analytically we may not know the science behind it until later. “We love because he loved us first.” (John 4:19) Love truly transforms and changes things!
Choosing to go the extra mile to show love and gratitude in what only seems to be an ungrateful world is the main key to joy. And although there are different holidays that can be good reminders to express this, daily transformations will take place when we do it regularly. Keeping a journal or a file of positive stories reminds us and encourages us to be an expression of love for ourselves and that the heart of humanity in general is good. Directing our thoughts toward what we have, not what we don’t have, refocuses our priorities in a positive way. Our choice of love over fear continues the awareness, brilliance and expansion of our true Divine nature. This includes being consistent in offering blessings for what we receive and give, including our food and water. Expressing love and gratitude fulfills our deep sense of purpose, which transforms not only our environment, but also our spiritual, emotional, and physical health. So no matter what is externally perceived, true happiness can be sustained by personal choice of love, and with that we can choose to be grateful every day, which in itself is something we can be truly grateful for.
© 2008 Tiffany Snow