Good Monday morning to everyone. I hope you had an enjoyable weekend. I spent a part of the weekend pondering last week's posts and deciding how to start this week off. First of all I'd like to thank Will for this opportunity, which I neglected to do last week. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and although I'm not completely sure why I am here, I am sure that it was somehow meant to be and that I, at least will benefit from it.
So, I thought a great deal about what I hoped to accomplish with this blog, and it struck me that I would really like to help someone bring about a transformation in their life, however small, and to help them to realize that they have the power to make similar changes themselves. I believe that's in keeping with the spirit of Will and White Dove. In my mind, a lesson well learned has the potential to bring about some sort of change, whether in life, health, money, or family. We are all a part of a large community in which we participate, and therefore have an affect on those around us. What a joy if that affect were to be positive.
With that in mind, I pondered a few of the lessons I have learned and would like to share a couple of them with you this week. The first is that nothing (relatively speaking) is free. There has to be an exchange of some sort whether it is money, effort, self-sacrifice, or other substance of value. The saying goes that "you get what you pay for." Be prepared to offer some sort of sacrifice for something you hold dear. Expend that extra effort you might not otherwise be willing to and you will be pleasantly surprised with what you receive in exchange. This applies even if it's just offering a kind word to someone. The reward you will receive will far outweigh the "energy" it took you to do so.
Be willing and able to forgive. This is not simply a Christian tenet, as it has been documented to have a positive effect on ones health and well-being. For many years I carried the burden of not being able to forgive my father for some of the things he had done when I was younger. Prior to his death he developed Alzheimer's Disease and became, in many ways, childlike so Faith and I traveled from North Carolina to New York on a couple of occasions, primarily to "help" my mother.
On one of those occasions we went with her to the nursing home to visit my father. He was in a common room with other residents when we arrived. When my mother pointed me out to him he literally beamed and waved for me to come to him. It was then, in part, that I forgave him. I went to him; me a 50 year old man; put my head in his lap and wept, because I knew then what I hadn't completely known before; He loved me. I don't know what may have gone through his mind, but I can hope that it gave him some joy as well. It wasn't long after that that he passed on, and we made another trip to New York. I truly mourned his death, yet somehow I also knew some level of peace.
Extending forgiveness closes wounds so that healing can take place. If there's someone that you have yet to forgive contemplate why, but also realize the freedom you may enjoy by doing so.
