There is a wonderful, old story about Alexander the Great that always helps to
remind me of what is important in this life. Alexander after having conquered
most of the known world and having reached the peaks of his power, fame,
influence, and wealth was still left with a great feeling of emptiness inside of
himself. Hoping to find some peace he decided to seek out a wise, old
philosopher and ask his help. Alexander found the old man sunning himself on a
hillside outside the city and approached him. Standing over the old man
Alexander announced who he was. He then promised the old philosopher anything he
desired in the entire world for his help. The wise, old man looked up at
Alexander and smiling gently said: "only stand out of my light."
Perhaps all of us in this life who want peace, love, happiness, and joy should
take a step back and stop standing in our own light. It is not, after all, what
we have or what we achieve that brings us these things. It is rather who we are
that brings them into our hearts, souls, and lives. If we want peace then we
have to become peaceful. If we want love then we have to choose to be loving. If
we want happiness and joy then we have to share our happiness and spread our
joy.
All too often we seek to become like Alexander the Great and conquer the world
outside of us. We seek fame, fortune, power, and prestige, yet even when we
obtain them we find ourselves empty. God, however, doesn’t want us to conquer
the world outside of us. God wants us to enlighten the world inside of us. God
wants us to fill ourselves with His love, joy, peace, and happiness. God wants
us to be full of His light and then give it to the world through our laughter,
our smiles, our words, our deeds, and our lives. May we all then make Heaven
smile by praying, loving, and living so that noone not even ourselves can ever
stand in the way of our light.
Joseph J. Mazzella joecool@wirefire.com
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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