.
[Heartfelt gratitude to the artists who made these randomly sourced images off Google.]
.
The legend of St. Valentine goes back to the early days of Christianity when Christians were being persecuted by the Romans. One Christian, Valentinus, was tried as a heretic and sentenced to death. In prison, Valentinus befriended a guard who respected his wisdom, and soon the guard brought his seven-year-old blind daughter Julia, to Valentinus for lessons.
Daily, the two talked of important things, and Julia developed a deep love and respect for her mentor. One day Julia asked him, “Valentinus, do you think I will ever be able to see?”
Valentinus thought for a moment and answered, “With love in your heart and belief in God, anything is possible, Julia.”
At that moment, Julia was overtaken with a flash of light, and suddenly her eyesight was restored. “Valentinus, I can see!” the child shouted.
“Praise be to God,” he humbly answered.
The next day when Julia came to visit Valentinus, he was gone. He had been taken to his execution. Julia found this note:
.
Be a true valentine by reminding your beloved ones that they are unlimited. Inspire them to trust their heart’s wisdom, and miracles will occur.
And if you are your own valentine, remember that all the love you need is within you, just as you are, right where you are.
.
Today’s post sourced from A Deep Breath of Life, by Alan Cohen, a favorite author.
He writes, “Consider this book a hand to hold as you scale the mountain of your destiny. In just a few minutes each day, you can step back from your worldly activity and draw in a deep breath of spiritual renewal.”
This cherished book filled with ‘daily inspiration for heart-centered living’ brightens every one of my days.
.
Images sourced off Google
Today I feel blessed and bursting with joy at being alive! I recently went through an illness that reminded me, again, of how much I have to be thankful for. Pain and illness are temporary conditions for me, which is not so for everyone. Physical mobility is incredibly precious and in remembering others who give thanks for wheelchairs and ramps, I give thanks for my freedom of movement and refuse to forget and take it for granted. In flushing the illness from my body with literally gallons of water over a week, it’s easy to give thanks for the incredible privilege of clean running water supplied to my home and the filtration system to make it even more pure.
The least I can do with my blessings is acknowledge my appreciation and let the love I feel well up and pour out into the world. I shine my light to the wonderful people I share my home with and make them laugh, and with my 4-legged family members and get tail-wags and purrs. Every being around me benefits from my loving light, from clerks in stores to fellow parishioners. I step out for a walk and stop to chat with a senior as she pauses on her daily foray. We express gratitude for kind neighbours keeping sidewalks ice-free and admire the chickadees who’ve come to investigate our visit next to their tree. As we part with smiles I send her more love, knowing her day has been brightened by our interaction, as mine has with her.
I return here to share how thankful I am for this forum, this wonderful place where we bloggers can share our lessons and adventures in learning how to share our inner light ever more brightly in the world. How we can and do transform any stumbling block into a stepping stone. For we know that the truest path to peace on earth is by developing and fostering our own bright inner peace which then radiates out from us in all directions.
This day is an opportunity given to us to see what a wonderful life we’ve been gifted with. Thank you God, Great Spirit, Universal Intelligence – whatever name you want to use! This universal source for good rejoices as we rejoice. It brightens a grey sky when I choose to see the sun behind the clouds. As I take one step towards God by expressing gratitude, God shines towards me like a thousand suns. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!
Let’s all choose to remember this fact and in so doing help make it real for everyone.
.
Related Articles:
http://dreamprayact.com/2012/11/21/overflowing-with-gratitude/
http://everydaygurus.com/2013/01/04/feeling-my-way-to-peace/
http://russtowne.com/2013/01/02/creating-a-good-life/
