True Joy

Life in this world is full of pain. But pain, which is the contrary of pleasure, is not necessarily the contrary of happiness or joy. Because spiritual joy flowers in the full expansion of freedom that reaches out without obstacle to its supreme object, fulfilling itself in the perfect activity of disinterested love for which it was created.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

True joy is found...in the intense and supple and free movement of our will rejoicing in what is good not merely for us but in Itself.

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation


--James
The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.
You cannot change the direction of the wind but you can adjust your sail.
Have a beautiful day unless you plan otherwise.

Why does God allow pain and suffering in the world

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.

As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.

They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.'

'Why do you say that?' asked the customer.

‘Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.

Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?

Would there be abandoned children?

If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.

I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.'

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long , stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.

He looked dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:

'You know what? Barbers do not exist.'

'How can you say that?' asked the surprised barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!'

'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.'

'Ah, but barbers DO exist!

That's what happens when people do not come to me.'

'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'

When Love Beckons

When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep.-- Kahlil Gibran

There will be many opportunities to express love in the days ahead, and some may be cloaked in harsh wrappings.
Perhaps an argument will wound and then be healed by the exchange of loving words and intimate gestures.
Maybe a friend or lover will be called away for a while, and the painful loneliness will make us question our commitment to love.
Yet, in loving unconditionally, we'll find peace.
Love, though a soft word and a gentle image, doesn't always promise us soft, gentle moments.
Sometimes love offers us a pained heart and empty arms.
We know love comforts, but not always.
Love heals, but in its own time.
The desire to know love draws us together, always.

Worthy of Love by Karen Casey

The Healing Power

Love itself is the healing power and the remedy for all pain.

Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

 

Daily Prayer

Higher Power, I give You my pain and I ask You to show me the lessons I'm to learn.

I ask for Your help in holding on to hope.

Help me to never forget that You and others are with me.

 

Today I will list the times during my active
addiction that I felt most hopeless.

Then I will think of what lessons
I learned from these moments.

How did others, my Higher Power, and
I transform these moments?

 

~~ @@ ~~

Two Minuses A Plus

Sometimes two minuses make a plus.

Edith Shannon

 

What appears to be a problem sometimes turns out to be a most beneficial circumstance.

I live only in the present, and it generally takes the perspective of hindsight to get the full meaning of an event.

Over the years, I have learned that some of our best lessons actually caused me pain while I was in their clutches.

What a relief to be able to see, now, that they had their silver lining.

This principle still holds true.

 

I can't let a setback set me back today. 

I am evolving right on schedule.

Open Arms

I have reached a point in my life

where I understand the pain and the challenges;

and my attitude is one of standing up

with open arms to meet them all.

Myrlie Evers

www.gratefulness.org

Treasured Capacity For Speech

I can used my treasured capacity for speech to offer

prayer as fragrant as incense before God

or to offer hurt to another.

#@#@#@#

You Did Not Mourn

If you only knew what goes on within my heart—Sometimes the pain is so great that I feel as if everything will break. The smile is a big cloak which covers a multitude of pains.
— Mother Teresa

The saints knew suffering beyond what most of us can imagine, yet bore it with grace.
Are you preparing for Christmas with joyful anticipation, or are you letting the strain of a hundred tasks sour your mood?

Give everyone you meet today the gift of a smile.

from Day by Day Through Advent With Mother Teresa

The Price Of Pain

The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.

-- St. Padre Pio da Pietrelcina

Accepting One's Sins

"If one can accept one's sin,
one can live with it.
If one cannot accept it,
one has to suffer the inevitable consequences."

-- Carl Jung

I must come to accept my past acts before they will stop causing me pain.
I will no longer regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
Am I coming to accept myself?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne'er a word said she;
But, Oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

-- Robert Browning Hamilton

I may think that forgetting the past is essential for growth and peace of mind.
It's a tempting idea: I'll start over again, I think, fresh and new.
But if I lose that old pain, I'll also lose all that I have learned.
I may repeat my mistakes, or make even worse ones next time.
Dwelling on the past is equally dangerous.
I began my journey to build a better life.
To find and maintain my balance, each area of my life needs attention.
With my remembering, I can truly experience the repentance that frees me from regret and remorse.
When I acknowledge my mistakes, I can learn from them and come to forgive myself.