life has been full

almost too full lately. i apologize, i did not have anything to post here yesterday. so i decided to share and excerpt from my 365 blog.

do you ever have days when everything irks and irritates and annoys?

when serving others with a joyful spirit seems utterly impossible?

when life is piling up and there are too many demands and not enough hours?

when you realize that your soul is forgetting to breathe?

me too.

"self-preoccupation, self-broodings, self-interest, self-love,

these are the reasons why you go jarring against your fellows.

turn your eyes off yourself;

look up, and out!

there are men, your brothers, and women, your sisters;

they have needs that you can aid.

listen for their confidences;keep your heart wide open to their calls, and your hands alert for their service.

learn to give, and not to take; to drown your own hungry wants in the happiness of lending yourself to fulfill the interests of those nearest or dearest.

look up and out, from this narrow, cabined self of yours, and you will jar no longer; you will fret no more, you will provoke no more; but you will, to your own glad surprise, find the secret of 'the meekness and the gentleness of Jesus';

and the fruits of the Spirit will all bud and blossom from out of your life."

- henry scott holland