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the first 25: wouldn't take nothing for my journey now


25 years ago at exactly 9:48 AM, I entered the universe. My mother was a strong, self-assured 19 year old woman, but I'm sure she was afraid, as I was her first born. I could not have been born to a better mother. Later becoming the mother of four, mom was the provider, spiritual guide, and teacher. Her life was the greatest self-help book. She taught us to be good stewards of what God blessed us with and to be kind to each other. She taught us to trust God and to work hard. However, her greatest lesson came with her diagnosis of breast cancer. From this final chapter of her life I learned how to be grateful and even more importantly, how to have unyielding faith. This faith will forever be the guiding light of my life. Although we only spent 14 years together, my life is forever blessed by God's decision to welcome me into the world through her loving womb.

So the first 25 years are history. I have spent much of them learning about myself through introspection, contemplation, and meditation. I've learned the power of thoughts and how to live with joy and a sense of purpose. The 11 Spiritual Truths that I shared yesterday are some of the great truths that govern my life. I know that I am nothing without God, but with him, I am everything.

I just want to focus on one thing today though, and if you forget everything else I've written herein this blog, please remember this. Love is all there is. I'm not talking about romantic love or sentimentality. I'm talking about the love that set the sun and the stars and the moon in the sky. The love that beats our hearts and causes our lungs to expand and contract with air. I'm talking about the love that is present at the bottom of the deepest ocean and also at the tallest of mountains. The love that causes the joining of the sperm and egg in the female body and create the miracle that is you and me. It is because of this love that we exist— as well as everything else in the universe, known and unknown.

Everything we do as human beings is aimed at trying to reconnect with this love. It is our pain that keeps us from it. It is our thoughts that keeps us from it. When you learn to deal with these two things, you will know love and it will change your life. Nothing will ever matter because you know that you are loved and you are love. The great responsibility of each of our lives is to love. That's it. So go with love and everything else will unfold.

Love is all there is.

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