There is a tendency in My children to bemoan whatever state they happen to be in. When they are in love, it is too much for them. When they are not in love, they wonder what is wrong with them, and will they ever love again?

Must you think that whatever is going on right now is so crucial that your very life depends on it? that it is really the making or the undoing of you?

Whatever you are going through now, soon enough it is gone. And you remain. Daunted or undaunted, you remain.

If you are devastated, you still exist. If you have supreme happiness, you're still here. What is changed? Are you different? Are you really?

Surely you learn from all that occurs. You may be wiser, or you may not. When all is said and done, how much difference does your wisdom or lack of wisdom really make!

In some cases, you may have learned to close the treasure of your heart. Or you have learned the folly of closing it.

One thing you can always learn is that there is more to an experience than meets the eye. And there is also less. How momentous is momentous when it has passed? Not so very. How exciting is a book, after all, once you have finished reading it?

Certainly, life educates you. You do learn something from it. But the main purpose of life is not educational. Or, if it is, We can say it is to learn joy. But joy cannot be learned. But what hampers joy can be unlearned, and you will.

Life comes in installments. As you see it, life comes in like bills every month and it comes in like congratulatory letters. Life is a good mix.

And when mail comes, you don't always know what the envelope contains. Open all letters the same. Eventually, they all get tossed out. What they say becomes laid to rest.

Much mail is concurrent, and some is consecutive. But rain or shine, the mail is delivered. Why not welcome all of it?

Prepare yourself for joy, for it is inevitable. Turn a kindly eye to the adventures in life that present themselves to you. They are advancements. They definitely further you along. All of them. And the time comes when they are all done. You can be done with them now.

Consider life a great feast with many courses. When one course is done, the plates are cleared. And then another course comes for you to partake of. All are not to your taste, but what a wonderful thing to have a variety of dishes.

Consider life an artist's palette. You would not want only one color. No matter how much you love purple, you want other colors too.

If life were served to you just as you like, think a moment. Everything perfectly as you ordered it. Even so, something wouldn't be perfect. You would find something to be dissatisfied with. You wanted more of this or you wanted less of that, or you might have preferred a different sequence or — you may think you know what you want your life to be, you may think you want a steady diet of peaches and cream, but even peaches and cream you will tire of or find fault with sooner or later.

Dissatisfaction arises from within you, not from the outward events. But do not be dismayed that this is so. This is all another way of saying that My children always want more. And when they have more, they want again. And is this not a good thing to desire more good to come?