Looking For Love

Instead of looking for love, give it;

Constantly renew it in yourself

and you will always

feel its presence

within you.

It will always be

there smiling at you,

gazing upon you kindly.

~Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

>Of Note: Give and you shall receive. It couldn't be much more plain. Jesus was like that. He spoke in simple terms. Love thy neighbor as theyself was another of those simply statements. We have figured out ways to garble His basic message of love and somehow clothe it in structure, pomp and ritual, but carrying no real meaning--except here and there when we feel like it. However, Jesus spoke without qualifiers. Some say that when we pass over, the only question asked will be this: Did you love and gave to your brothers and sisters as you were able? We might spend a part of every day asking ourselves this very question ahead of that major, unavoidable exam.

>Today's Weather Report: It must be November because this is the month cloudy days out-number sunny days. It has something to do with shifting hot and cold waves in the fall, but don't ask me what exactly. That's why this flower picture is so necessary as a reminder of the beauty that once was this past summer. [Is it just me, or does this day lily appear to be smiling?]

>Watch For Change Snippit: Speaking of giving love, in September groups of volunteers picked up trash along the sea shore all around the globe. The AP noted that "volunteers scoured 33,000 miles of shoreline worldwide and found 6 million pounds of debris." They went on to quote a report by the Ocean Conservancy that people from 76 countries participated and from 45 states of the USA. 378,000 volunteers collected 182 pounds of trash per mile on average--although in the United States because of the number of people, 390 pounds per mile were discarded. Our beaches are now cleaner not only for humans but for other animals and wildlife which rely on this ecosystem for their survival. Some day, this kind of cleanup will be unnecessary when we have matured as one humanity to understand that Earth is not a wastebasket. But, since we are not there just yet, we thank these volunteers for their concerted sanitation efforts.