What made you think that you were never to be discontented? What made you think you were always supposed to be pleased, noticed, adored? that life was supposed to fall at your feet and do your bidding?

True, the world is your oyster. It is also your shell to crack.

If everything in life presented itself to you as you would like with no more than a flick of your wrist, you would not be so happy as you think.

You are learning to give up resistance. The world pulls you in its tension and stretches you out and makes you resilient. The world expands you. And so you grow inch by inch.

It is not a terrible thing that you do not always get your way. Whatever is, that is your way. You are making your way in the world.

The world may be disjointed, but you are learning to enjoin, and in the process, enjoy.

The world is like bone with a lot of sinew, and you are wresting the meat from it. The world does not serve you your meat all cut up in bite-sized pieces. Sometimes the world is more that you can chew, yet what can you do but keep chewing?

This is the relative world We speak of. For the divine aspect of life, there is no tension. There is nothing for you to learn but to let go of whatever build-up you have fashioned around it.

The world is your playing field. In terms of the Divine, there is nothing to develop but your awareness of it. Awareness is not concentration. Awareness is letting go of protuberances that obstruct your view.

Your view is your awareness. In the world, you learn to look outward. In awareness of Being, you learn to look within.

The time will come where there is no perceived difference between within and without. You will see the Silence and Light just as deeply in the world. It will all blend. Golden light will enwrap you, and then the world will be as staunch as you would have it be. It will not matter to you so much, the infallibility of the world, for your view will be infallible.

It will be as if you sit down to a grand feast. All the foods served are not your favorites. But then, to your delight, whatever is served turns out to be delicious! You discover that it is your palate that has repositioned itself, grown its wings, as it were, and you, the taster of the food, have learned to taste! You relish all that comes before you. You relish all the flavors. You become a great connoisseur of great life. You do not grumble any longer. You enjoy what is.

If the butter is in pats or melted, it is still butter. If the food is raw or cooked, it is still food.

Colors will take on new color. You will love them all, the murky and the clear.

You will be a delighter in life. You will be delighted, and you will delight.

And so the world that has stretched and exasperated you, will perform for you, and it will be a performance as never before because you have come to love life. Where there was darkness, now is light. Where there was disfavor, now is favor. Where there was heartache, now good-heartedness is restored.

You stand in the same place, but where you stand has risen along with you. The world rises with you. You pull up the world. It no longer pulls you down. This is a friendly arrangement, no struggle. Tautness has left, and there is life, supple, pliant, and ever extending itself into the realms of Heaven, simply because of your vibrant awareness that Earth is rising, and you are the riser.