This week I was honored to preside at a
memorial for a man who'd been married 73 years! I had presided at
his wife's memorial 9 months ago, and heard since that time, he
wanted to be with her.
73 years. That's hard to comprehend.
That's my life plus 9 years!
For quite a few years I've been
collecting short 'secrets for long lasting relationships' from people
I've met who've been married for a long time.
All of them had to do with acceptance
of each other. Encouraging mutual growth, but letting the other be
who they were, and do their growth on their own time.
During the holidays, we experience
family dynamics to a deeper degree. Sometimes we wonder "Who
are these people?" Most of our challenges with them are because
we expect them to be someone different. We do this with ourselves as
well. We expect ourselves to be different - either because of
comparisons, or because of what or who we 'think' we should be by
this time of our lives.
One way to move beyond that is to love
yourself, accepting yourself just the way you are. It doesn't mean
that you don't want to expand and be an even better you, it just
means that you no longer judge who you are now. The amazing thing
is, the more you accept yourself, the less it matters what others
have or have not done.
Not all of us have time for 73 years
with the people we love ... however we do have the time to accept
people just as they are. Let's do that for the holidays. Give the
gift of accepting everyone, including yourself, just the way we are,
with Love.
Affirmative Prayer
The Truth of us is that we are all
expressions of the One. That Presence is absolutely everywhere. It
is in all things, surrounding all things. This Presence is the
energy of Love - a Love that is unconditional. It accepts Itself,
just as It is, as It is expressing in all forms.
I now declare I am ready to accept
myself and all others just as we are right now. I know there is a
greater potential within us, and I accept that we are expanding to
include that, yet I place no judgments on where we are now, except
that we are right where we are supposed to be. How could it be any
other way? How could The Divine be some place It's not supposed to
be, being all that there is?
I now open my heart and mind to be the
one who Loves without conditions or expectations. I am so grateful
to be able to Love as God Loves.
I release these words, knowing they are
Truth, and the Truth has set us free. And so it is.
