In my heart,I know that the people in this world can be happy. They can be happier than they are. Happiness is having a pure joy with life. Children are almost always happy. Their spirits are more open to everything that is going on around them. Their sensitivity is alert and alive with excitement and energy. They are fast to find the goodness and fun things in life and to act upon excitement with a deliberate facing of reality. But probably what children have the most within them in living life is . . . hope. They are undaunted by the seriousness and frailties of life, but charge on happily, gallantly to embrace and laugh with life. Children have a great ability to face life without demeaning it. They love every minute of living, even when they drift off to sleep, knowing that the exhilaration of the day is slowly, mysteriously closing before their dreamy eyes. They want to experience every single moment, drinking in all of the love and "realness" of life that their God in Heaven showers down upon them. It is children that we must return to....the children within ourselves. It is not so hard to do. Childhood is only a simple thought away. Just remember back to one of your most cherished times when you were a child....swimming in the lake with your father; going for that wonderful, quiet walk with your brother, your eyes glued to the enormous trees around you, the solitude of the forest sending you back to a feeling of another "home", a long time ago. Remember....when your thoughts and feelings were so precious and poignant and life was so utterly beautiful....you wondered how it all ever came to be....so incredible as it was. But then, you just smiled and something in you "knew"....and you jumped up and ran off to the field to play baseball with your friends, or went upstairs to write to your best friend who had moved away and it was all you could do to not run there yourself....to be with them, your best friend in the whole world.

Childhood, happiness, memories, wonderings.....our heart's designers of "real life". We are all so incredibly capable of being totally, completely happy in this life. It is not so much a matter of having certain things, or being some thing, or someone. It is more a real matter, if you sit down and seriously, honestly think about it, of what you really care about in this life....the things that matter to you more than anything else. What does really matter? If you had a choice....if you could choose one thing....only one thing...in your life that you could take with you, if you had to go somewhere suddenly....what would it be? Surely, you would say....the people you love. Because what else does really matter more....than those who are dear to your heart? People need each other. We cannot survive in this world without each other. And that is why the people in this world could so easily, so wonderfully be totally happy in their lives....in this world....without having to be "of the world" as much as we are....because of our relationships with the people around us.

I think that the most important thing to do to feel close to people in our lives....everyone in our lives, from our family and friends to people that we just see on the bus or people that we work with every day....is to think about them. We cannot get to know others without thinking about who they are, what they believe, how they feel, and perhaps most crucially....we have to try to understand that other people are like us in so many ways. We are not perfect people and yet we are. If you look at children, you can see that they have many funny characteristics, many odd behaviors, many unusual traits to their personalities. But we love them for all those great things....those qualities in children bring us great laughter, humility and love, deep within our hearts. And that is how we must look upon and accept other people....we must see the little child in them....imagine them when they were a child....and see the youthful hope and faith that abides within them, still, deeply and truly. As adults, we really don't lose that "child within us". If anything, we are stronger children, because we have more knowledge and experience and curiosity. So what we need to do is kindly and lovingly look for the "grown up" child in others and see how they have struggled, how they have triumphed and how they have lived their lives still retaining their natural self....the little person they were since their life began. If we can see people in this way, we will not judge them or misunderstand them. And if we can be more open with people like this, we will surely be happier because knowing how to get along with people in this world is truly the most important, most meaningful thing in this life. What could be more important than the people in this world? Our cars and our houses, our jobs and accomplishments and all of the other things of the world that take up our attention and our thoughts would not mean anything to us if we lost the people who we loved. Life would truly be meaningless without people. If we were not loved or if we could not give love from our hearts to others, we would certainly, most assuredly, perish. We would fade away, we would cease to be who we are, deep inside and our personalities and all that we are would be for naught, with no one to share it with. I am certain that humanity's truest and most abiding happiness lies within our love for and understanding of all the people in our lives.

I have learned that people respond to love far better than the opposite of love....unfriendliness, insensitivity, coldness, rejection, prejudice, hatred, ignorance, fear. Love is a positive, uplifting, wondrous and inspiring quality inherent in every human being that can touch the hearts of others so much. A smile, a simple, wonderful smile can change a person's entire day. Love is simple....it is the free and beautiful, kind and sweet object of God's reason for sending us to this earth. If you look all around you, you will see the beauty and glory of God....you will see the love that he feels for every living being on this earth....God literally showers us with love everywhere you look....around you and deep within you. God IS truly love. He is forgiving, caring, ever faithful, understanding, merciful, wise, and he is always by our sides. It is this love, this great and wondrous love that God has for us and that he gives to us....that we are capable of giving to others. Perhaps, if we just were to stop what we are doing....just take a little time out of our lives....and look around, quietly....to see the incredibly beautiful and awe inspiring clouds that float so gently across the sky....they are so quiet and soft; ...watch the breeze blowing softly in the trees, listen to the sounds around you....sit quietly and feel the world around you. It is so alive! Life is so alive! Life is so beautiful! We must cherish every moment we are alive! There are so many things to be thankful for....just think for a moment, what you really have. The good things in your life....there surely are so many good things in your life. That's what life is all about....knowing that God in Heaven is blessing you....he gives you so much....He gives you so very much. So much love, so much joy, so much of everything beautiful and good. Our happiness lies in what we are thankful for. Our happiness is rooted in the gentle, kind and sweet moments of our lives. And happiness is there with those people everywhere in the world who are our brothers... who are our sisters. How can we be so different....if we are all the same? We are all human beings...we all walk upon this earth in the same way....some perhaps in a little different way, but we are all going the same way....forward, into the future. We all have thoughts of why we are here. We all have yearnings for comfort and love and kindness. We all have memories, fond and others sad; some memories in the far, distant past. Others not so long ago. But our feelings are close to our hearts; our feelings are close to our eyes....many tears ready to fall in the moment when we let our selves go. It is not so hard to be ourselves. We need not be afraid....for life is not so bad. If you think of how simple it is. It is just so simple, all of this life. And what it all really means. Our love can be given so freely to everyone....the kind of love that just showers another's heart with gladness and joy and thankfulness. For a thankful heart is one that is loved, truly loved. Oh, we must just love one another. That is how we can be happy. Take aside all of the misunderstanding, all of the confusion, all of the negative feelings and what is left is the most wonderful thing in the world.....it is the love we have for each other. It is the love we have for our brothers and sisters all over the world. What remains, after all of the hardness is taken away from our hearts is the most glorious, happy and free little child in the world. A happiness fulfilled and wondrous, like a new day when the sun is rising, when the flowers bloom in springtime, when a new baby is born. A love for another is joy. A love for anyone is bliss. Christ loves anyone. He loves everyone. We can do that, too. We can love everyone. Everyone in the world. Everyone in the world. Everyone.

Just stop. For a little moment....stop, and listen and watch. Watch the people around you. Look into their eyes and try to understand how they feel....what do they wonder about? What do they long for in their lives? What hopes, what dreams are so deep in their hearts? Can you see the tears falling from their eyes....as they reach out to God, so quietly and humbly in their hearts....crying out for love and happiness. Every person on this earth longs for the same things....to be loved and to love others. This is where our real happiness is....in loving others. There is no reason to hate anyone....there is no reason to misunderstand anyone. If we look at people with the right heart...with a gentle mind and a humble spirit, we will feel the love they have. We will feel the goodness in them. Love finds love. Let us be kind to others. Let us be good to others. Let us be friends. For we all came from the same place....from Heaven above, from that beautiful wondrous place that we all remember...surely, you can remember. Heaven. It was there. We were all there, together. A long time ago, but not so very long ago....we walked in the lovely garden, the garden of our dreams, the garden of Paradise. And there, we were friends....we were loving friends, all of us. So, go back to that place in your mind. Take yourself back....to that gentler time, when everything was beautiful and perfect and good and that is where you will find the way to love others and to find real happiness. It is in our memories of Heaven that we will find the real way to love other people. For Heaven is in our hearts. It is in us....deep inside, forever. We never lose that memory. We never lose the way we have to love other people. We never lose our love....our real love. It is always there.

by Debbie Schramer 1997