Today in life, you are going to express yourself. Express yourself more than defensively, and certainly do not express yourself offensively. In many ways, you have been a bulldog with your days. You won't let go of them. You are ready to tear them apart. You are ready to take days by the teeth and shake them, rattle them, until they surrender to you.

Beloveds, better for you to surrender to the day. This does not mean abdicating your throne. It means advocating your throne. How you sit on the throne matters. Certainly, you don't slouch, yet you can lean back. Certainly, you don't want to sit on your throne like an imperious Emperor who is ready to deny all the petitions that come before him.

A true leader does not make too much of his own importance. A true Emperor is humble. He has been given much responsibility. He knows his place in the scheme of things. He is not to be rebellious, nor does he stomp on those who do not agree with him.

And so must you accede to life. Give it the benefit of the doubt. Don't put a stranglehold on it. Let life be. Accommodate it. Welcome it. You know that an Emperor in the world is not God over all. An Emperor does not rule the world. He lives in it, and many times has to take what comes without a fuss. An Emperor is not a martinet. He is not the general of an army at war.

A good Emperor is a peaceful man. He is not an insurgent. He does not rebel against life. He champions it.

A good Emperor knows that he is in not in charge of the Universe. He does not get upset when everything does not go his way.

He conserves his energy. His eyes are bright. He is joyful. He does not kid himself about his powers. He holds court. He does not make too many demands. He asks of himself to be courteous to all that come before him and not so much to wear a robe of authority.

He knows he does not control the sun or the tides. He understands that the sun shines where it does and that the tides bring to shore what they bring.

The Emperor is a master of himself. Therein lies his greatness.

He does not rant and rave over what occurs. He does not conspire against it. He does not turn a blind-eye to what occurs, yet he does not rail against it. If he wanted fried eggs sunny-side up this morning, and the Cook of Life gives him scrambled eggs, he eats the scrambled eggs. He is happy to be served. He is good-natured about what is served him.

And so, you are to be the Good Emperor who doesn't protest life. He respects himself and his relationship to life too much to fuss and fume. He doesn't cave in to life either. It is not caving in to life to accept two scrambled eggs when he would have preferred two eggs sunny-side up.

Above all, the Emperor doesn't brood. He doesn't spend the rest of his day ruing the scrambled eggs. He doesn't let the event of the scrambled eggs scramble him or the rest of the day. When he leaves the breakfast table, he leaves it. He leaves that chapter behind him and goes on to the next.

You are meant to be an emperor of your life on Earth. All may not go according to your wishes, and yet you wish the day well. An episode of your life is only an episode, and you know that the sun rises tomorrow, and another day dawns. You know the difference between your rights and your desires, and you move right along in life.