Before this day is done something you think, something you do, or something that happens to you may trigger a transformation in your life. Will the change be for the better or for the worse? That depends on how you think about it and respond to it.
In pursuing an ever higher standard of affluence this world, the importance of things like righteousness may be left behind. We need reminders that in the final tally of all our deeds, the only thing that will matter is whether we did what was right.
Can we not make the voluntary choice to rely on the help of our friends, neighbors, and coworkers? There’s no doubt that relying on others is going to hurt us now and then, but even so, there’s more to be gained by reliance than by refusing to rely.
In order to be genuine, pity must be more than a feeling; it must involve real, active compassion. “We may have uneasy feelings for seeing a creature in distress without pity; for we have not pity unless we wish to relieve them,” said Samuel Johnson.
Some people may know how to “talk the talk,” may have occasional flashes of inspiration and bursts of energy, and may have enormous intelligence and talent. But without steadiness, they won’t have many actual accomplishments in the end.
Everywhere we turn, people are making excuses for a failure to honor their obligations. But if follow-through is rare, that only means it will be more valuable when we acquire that trait. “Doing what we say” will distinguish us as being different.
There are a number of helpful things we need to be able to do, and we should be willing to pay the price (discipline, sacrifice, hard work) to do these things easily. Most good things are hard before they’re easy; that’s just the way the world works.
There are many times when a friend will need to hear the healing words that we can speak to them. It takes wisdom (and hard work), but we can learn to use the gift of language in such a way that those who hear our words are helped — and even healed.
With each moment, especially the ones that bring intense joy or sorrow, we get a glimpse of something beyond our workaday world, something that calls to us. Our best moments, then, are those in which we answer the call to dream, to grow, and to live.
Wholeness does not come from trying to unify the various parts of ourselves; it comes from taking our rightful place in relation to the larger reality outside of ourselves. There’s no peace in our conscience without doing our duty in the world.
