Every day is an anniversary of something. You decide what it is an anniversary of. No, I will tell you. It is an anniversary of joy. Make it so. Let all the events in your life be named joy.
Whatever it is the anniversary of, no matter how gloomy you may consider the remembered occasion, it was the beginning of an adventure. You went on the trail of something. You may not have found what you were looking for, but you went on the trail. Give yourself a star for that.
Because something isn’t what you had envisioned, it doesn’t mean it was an impediment to your life. If you will turn your thinking a little bit, you will find that there is a treasure to be found -- in everything. “Everything?” you gasp. And you think of a dozen torturous things that cannot possibly have good in them. Beloveds, even if there is no good in them as they are, then think of the good that can come from them. Heroes can come from them. Heroes do.
You are here to experience life. Like milk, life has cream in it, but it is not all cream. The milk with cream skimmed off holds unseen value. It has vitamins and minerals. Even in the skimmed milk, there is something good for you.
Even in what you call dire circumstances, there is something good for you. You may have to find it. Because you have to look for it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. At the least, there will be a message you can find.
If you are in the midst of trouble, even in war, there is something for you to take with you. Perhaps through cruelty, you learn kindness. Perhaps through terror, you learn courage. Perhaps through militancy, you learn peace. No matter what, you will discover something about yourself. Even if you don’t like what you find, it is better that you make that discovery.
When you are driving a car, and you are speeding, you perhaps need to know you are speeding before you would think to slow down.
If you discover you are faithless, then you are at the beginning of faith.
Even in darkness, you can see a glimmer of light. Even if it is so dark, that no glimmer can be seen, you can predict that the sun will rise in the east. When the sun rises, it rises without fanfare. You do not need to hear bugles blowing in order to know that the sun rises.
Darkness cannot last. If your life is shrouded in darkness, then look within. A light brighter than the sun shines in you. Begin to see it. Lit from within, the darkness of a cave recedes.
When you are in pain or frightened, find the center of the sun within, and be warmed by it.
All the goodness in the world and in Heaven exists within you. The gold that counts is within you, beloveds.
Maybe you sit in darkness so that you may reveal the light to someone else. Maybe you sit in darkness so that you may begin to know the light you are. There is no maybe about it. You are here to shine your light so that you and others will know, beyond a doubt, that it is there.
The bogeyman to fear is the one that loiters within you.
Remember that what happens in the world happens in the world. What happens in the world is not the extent of everything. It is only the extent of itself. It does not touch the Truth of Heaven.