Day 208 – November 29, 2011
We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it.
~John Lennon
First, I did not post a blog yesterday. I had nothing to say and I did not want to disrespect the Daily Mood Quote readers by putting out a piece of fluff, with no meaning behind it. That's dishonest and I won't do that. My focus yesterday was on my youngest child. It was her birthday and those days are important to me. You see, when I was eighteen, I had a doctor's appointment, my annual physical, and I was planning to get married. After this physical, I was told they found an abnormality and I would not be able to have children. I was devastated, because more than anything I wanted children.
Well, it turns out that those doctors were wrong (a little lesson here: always get a second opinion of any dire diagnosis). So, I remember and put great emphasis on every one of my children's birthdays. Because, they simply may never have been. It is truly a miracle that I have been blessed with five children, five healthy, intelligent, beautiful children. Each pregnancy was a struggle and a few of my children were born very early, but each of them is a gift. And on their birthdays, that is what I remember and I am thankful for those gifts and for the love that I feel for each of them in my heart.
In my life's travel, I have met many people from a wide variety of different cultures. The one thing that I found to be most shocking is how “taken for granted” having children, healthy children of your own is. And, how often it is resented by otherwise intelligent people. I will admit that raising children can be a very time consuming, expensive and exhausting endeavor, but I have to ask the very simple question: Isn't that part of why we are here in the first place? Are we not integral pieces of a much larger mosaic? If we are not paying attention to that little fact, we are truly missing an important part of our own self-growth.
While I'm in the subject of “self”... In our culture we tend to focus so very heavily on personal growth, career, accomplishments, all things of the “self.” People spend billions, if not trillions of dollars on trying to make themselves better, younger, healthier, stronger, richer, whatever. Unfortunately, so much of this comes at the expense of the next generation, our children. It really baffles me that people are so singularly focused on their personal achievements and themselves. All too often, I here my peers and others try to justify it by saying, “Well, I'm leaving them with more money, or an aspirational example to follow,” or some other pale veneer over their own selfish interest. All the while, they spend zero time with their children and relegate the raising of their children (what I suspect is quite possibly the most important task we have on this planet), to somebody else.
More often than not, it's the television, video games, or even worse the Internet, which is filled to the brim with people who could not possibly care less about the long term physical, mental and emotional welfare of our children. Too many children have an open portal to all that is vile, evil and uncivilized in our world. If you don't believe me, just witness some of the violent video games and Internet sites that are out there, which promote, “murder, death, kill” (thanks Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock). Before I go much further, I have to say that I also see the good that this advance in communications (the Internet) can bring. And there is a positive use for some video games, especially on cold and rainy days. However, somebody will always eventually exploit any good innovation to debase and undermine children in search of profit, or just to expand upon their own evil intent. Sadly, that is where so many parents, who are focused on self, leave there children dangling, while they take Pilates, Zumba, or work 70 hour weeks.
Okay, back to the main point, love takes commitment, time and effort. You can't buy it, you can't manufacture it and store it for another time. It takes constant, patient, diligent, ongoing, effort. Its a gift that so often is seen as a burden and put on a shelf to wither and die, while we chase a better “self” image. The funny thing is that actively growing love is the fastest way to improve your self image and grow both as a person and in spiritual wellness (regardless of religious belief, love is a constant, just like in math. It's built into the human equation). John Lennon also said, “All you need is love” the rest of what is important just flows from it. It is the legacy that will carry on long after all the self fulfillment has faded away and “the stuff” we gained has collapsed into dust. Our children bear that legacy forward and it's up to us to decide, will we give them a living, growing thing, or a withered plant that never stood a chance?
How will you grow love today”
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
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