Let’s get real serious today and get right down to the knitty- gritty facts of life. One of the simplest ways to increase the total value of life is to form the habit of appreciating the world we have here and now. Obviously there come to all of us occasional inconveniences, but think of the amazing gifts that are ours. Yours and mine and everyones on the face of this planet. Just this morning as we sat at our breakfast table we enjoyed the ducks running around outside our window, putting on quite a performance. It was a gloomy day, but they didn’t care. Why should we?
There is such a wealth of beauty lavished upon us everywhere, just waiting for us to enjoy. All of the wonderful natural scenery in all of its glory and so often we just take it for granted. There is an eerie relationship between the outer and the inner worlds of the human spirit. The more one draws upon the beauty of the world and enjoys it, so much the more does he increase his capacity to discover and enjoy inner beauty. Coal and oil may become exhausted, but beauty is inexhaustible. Our only trouble is that we are so limited in our ability to appreciate it. We turn to cheaper values and miss so much of this free gift of loveliness that surrounds us.
Greater still should be our resources of love and friendship. Nothing can possibly be stranger or more wonderful than in our world where struggles for an existence is the law of the land this other trait should have emerged. Anyone can explain selfishness, but love is a mystery. Love forgets itself; it gives, it bestows, it shares, it sacrifices without asking if anything is coming back. And as it turns out nothing so enhances and increases the value of this “better possession which is ourselves.”
However even more wonderful, if that is possible, is the way we were formed and enabled to have a real relationship with the Eternal. With all of our material blessings, we have a yet greater opportunity and that is to have a real and satisfying relationship with the Almighty within. We can never win this better possession nor hold on to it permanently unless we exercise these spiritual abilities, which expand our being and add the richest qualities of life. It was Augustine who wrote way back in the fourth century that “Thou hast made us for thyself, and we are restless until we find our rest in thee.” It is as true now as it was then. All the things of this world will never constitute life unless one learns how to win and possess his soul and to keep that best of all possession —himself.
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