I grew up thinking that things should be achieved with effort and dedication. I learned in the past that merit and striving had an intrinsic capacity to add value to my actions. “If I do it with sacrifice, somehow it will be worth more.”

My Dad’s passion was photography, and his favorite subject matter was ugly courthouses, thunderclouds, scenic landscapes, and Art Deco architecture. Whenever we were on vacation he would always have two cameras hanging around his neck.

World peace? A new era of cooperation among all nations? The eradication of poverty? Millions of us have had such hopes and aspirations only to be pulled back to “reality” on hearing the latest news of ongoing warfare, souring relations between countries, or the rise in homelessness and poverty.

I’d bet more than a few of you remember The Great Recession. It had been a rough couple of years before we even landed there. My dad’s health started to decline in 2006. At the same time, my pregnant daughter had moved home.

When a piece of charcoal burns, what is around it will also ignite, but only if it has the right composition. If what surrounds a glowing coal is made of wood, paper or phosphorus, it will certainly catch the flames.

Very early in the revelation of Choose Only Love, Jesus tells us that he wants to show us a sure path to happiness and fulfillment. This, in his words, consists of “loving all that arises” in our present human lives.

In the fall of 2022, I had just finished the spiritual adventure novel that I spent 10 years writing. I had a wonderful agent who was sending the finished manuscript to publishers, and we were both optimistic that a publishing house would acquire it.

Old resentments make us feel bitter, and bitterness can make the most beautiful people appear ugly. Resentment toward others is the opposite of forgiveness. It blocks the free flow of Divine Love in all directions.

Years ago I was amidst a group of people surrounding a person who was a bearer of great light. Throngs of people surrounded her. I spent personal time with her opening homes for new mothers and their babies who had AIDS.