What’s the Bottom Line?

So what are you here for? 

Do you know? 

What’s your purpose? 

What’s your raison de etre?

I must confess I think I’ve found mine.  I’ve looked long and hard.  I have had many lessons that have humbled me and struck me to my core.  My life’s not been easy, but then there are few who can say that anyway.  Don’t you think?  I’ve searched, I’ve asked, “why me?” and I’ve come up empty without answers.  Until now.

It’s love.  Yes, simple and yet complicated love.  Loving myself and loving others in that peaceful, ‘I accept you as you are’ way.  It’s not an easy lesson nor purpose.  I’m most definitely a work in progress.  But the key for me is progress.  Sometimes it’s simply in that moment to moment progress of accepting situations, people and staying in a loving place all at the same time.  Sure, it’s frustrating, but I’m finding that the payoff is more than double the effort which makes it all worth-while.

Baby steps is the key.  Standing still when needed and even allowing a step or two backwards in order to solidify the lesson helps.  Love isn’t all fairy tales and moonbeams although the end results are!  Love heals, love excites, love believes, love hopes, love endures, love blesses, love remains even after all is said and done.

Love is the memory which remains long after we’re gone.  Think about it, you can be remembered for your Pulitzer Prize, your Gold Medal at the Olympics, your Golden Globe and even your 2014 County Fair’s First Place Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Recipe, but all of that fades after time when others who follow win as well.  Yes, you are special and I”m not taking away any of those honors.  I applaud you all!

What I’m simply saying is, when you live your life with love, your memory never fades away because it lives in beating hearts.  Does that make sense?  Your innate essence of love permeates those around you, the world in which you live, the trees which you plant, the seeds which you sow and that flourish after time.  The blossoms which remind us of you even years later.

I believe that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says it best:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

What’s your bottom line?

Shine On!

xo