The all powerful energetic fire of the universe that serves as our life giving sun puts on an unparalleled spectacle of beauty and awe for us every morning and every evening if we but take the time to look towards the horizon.  And if you give it more than a passing acknowledgement, you’ll discover there, gifts of understanding to take with you on your journey through each day.

  First and foremost among these gifts is the understanding that each new day offers you a fresh start; providing a new and untouched canvass for you to express your best qualities, your highest intentions and your creative abilities upon.  It is the gift we call “Today”.    

  And in considering this gift further, we see that there is an underlying intelligent structure of patience, humility and compassion built into what each day offers.  For if we fall short of our goal in any of our good intentions today, a new day, pregnant with unlimited possibilities, is guaranteed to arrive for us tomorrow for as long as we may need to try again.

  And you know, they already made a really good movie on this very subject, it’s called Groundhog Day.  If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it!  The hero, played by Bill Murray, is a miserable, self centered, self-serving, bored egotist that hates his job. But the universe plays a marvelous trick on him.  It keeps repeating Groundhog Day over and over and over, hundreds of times, until gradually he begins to get it right.  So that in the end he has a fabulously joyous and successful day in which he helps and uplifts everyone he touches throughout his special day. 

  But, really, getting that one day right wasn’t the most important point.  The greater value in it was that he learned his lessons and changed himself into a much better person on all levels.  And isn’t that what life is really all about for all of us; being able to learn life’s daily lessons and to enjoy the gifts of each and every day?

  So as we play out our roles here against the backdrop of the Eternal Now, which we chop into the parts labeled Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we often miss the very point of the game of life, which is in reality three points, …to love, to learn and to appreciate.  But when we make an effort to be more conscious of What we’re doing and Why we’re doing it, we find ourselves naturally more successful because we’re putting our full attention on what we’re doing.  That’s obvious, of course, but like an old picture hanging on the wall for years, after a while the obvious often just gets ignored. 

  What we need to do then, is to regularly check in with ourselves about the what’s and why’s of everything we’re doing in our lives.  We should not just live like automatons who are able to earn a living and check all the boxes of our material responsibilities, but unable to put our lives into a fuller and more meaningful context.  A context that reminds us that first and foremost we are souls, sparks of the Divine Creative Intelligence and Power.

  So if your life seems to be overflowing with endless lists of doing, but empty of satisfaction and meaning, this is a strong soul signal to revisit your priorities.  For love, joy, happiness and contentment are core qualities of every soul.  And the only reason we don’t feel these is that we are out of touch with our higher reality, our souls. 

  Yes, life is a tremendous challenge; one that asks much of us.  But the truly successful are also overflowing with long lists of responsibilities and tests.  The difference is that those who are truly happy and contented, in spite of all their challenges, are those that are anchored in an awareness of the Spiritual Ocean of Joy that this transitory material life floats upon.

I’m John Johnston   See you next time, here, On the Cosmic Porch!