See how the sunlight plays on the leaves. The sunlight goes under and over and around. The Sun takes delight, and yet its shining is a matter of course. The Sun is ever the same and never the same as it plays along the leaves.

In your life, be like the Sun. Shine every day whether you are seen or not. Play every day in and out of the leaves of your life, and take delight. You are to play. It is not that you pay so much attention to yourself as a player. You pay attention to the playing. Although you are the star of your life, your attention is not on stardom.

The Sun takes so much delight because it gives so much delight. The Sun is not thinking of itself. It thinks of spreading light. And so you, beloveds, be like the Sun, and say:

“What warmth will I share today, what light will I spread, what joy will I give and therefore receive delight in?” These are your questions to ask. Ask not, “What hassles will I have this day?” Ask not, “What’s in it for me today? What am I going to get out of it?” Ask not, “Am I getting my full share?”

Today is a day where the spotlight is on what you are contributing. Today is not a day for you to be thinking, “Me, me, me.” Today is a day for you to be thinking, “You, you, you.”

How will you serve the Universe today? Is that too big a bite for you to swallow? The fact is that you serve the Universe every day. You serve it generously, or you stint. You think of yourself uppermost and what you are owed, or you think about something you can do that will brighten a day for someone.

Even when you want to, it is not always easy to know what you can do to make life a little better for someone else. Your help isn’t always welcomed. You do not always feel welcomed. Bear in mind that you do not always have to plan. Desire an opportunity. Many opportunities may appear to you. Don’t hesitate. Don’t think it over. Never mind if this is THE opportunity or opportunities earmarked for you. Take them anyway. If you see them, they are yours.

Pull out the chair for your wife to sit in. Give up your seat on the bus. Cook your husband’s favorite foods. Let your child be.

I will tell you something. To think of doing something nice for someone will help your circulation. You will be getting up from where you have been sitting. You will walk across the room. You will walk across the street. You will take a step, and so you will be walking across the Universe, and so you will strew rose petals of consciousness before you, and the rose petals will be noted and picked up. It is so simple to serve when you have the intention to serve rather than to reap. Yet, of course, you will reap. You will reap more this way than from all the attempts you have made to reap. Rose petals of consciousness are yours so that you will strew them. You are alive this day so you can make a roseful path for others to walk on. Strew rose petals before you, and you can only walk on them.

Perhaps you have been trying to take a short cut in life. A short cut may not take you where you want to go. Where do you want to go, beloveds, and how many will you make the path smoother for?

What would keep you from blazing a trail across the Universe just the way the Sun does every day? The Sun serves. How it serves. The magnanimous Sun serves, and the Earth turns.