Ways in which we can give to someone our sweetest offering are all around us. In fact, they are held within the heart, ready to jump out and invigorate someone! When we give a little of ourselves to someone else, we bring the brightest portion of ourselves out into the open. We transcend our weaker qualities and instead make an offering of higher, more significant purpose as we lend our brightness to another. We can give someone a boost of self-regard, sharing what it is about them that we love. We can give them a reason to smile and thereby lift their demeanor. We can lend to them our hope and by so doing share a little joy. We can give to them our trust, keeping their integrity polished and ready to engage. We can give them our love – just one sure expression – and be instrumental in bringing harmony to a greater level on the earth. We can help prepare them for truth and thereby bring more knowledge into our world. And we can send them gifts of laughter, pealing away like songs carried in the wind to hearts awaiting.

All of these are extraordinary messages for giving, and all of them invaluable. Givers are naturally more peaceful, successful, and happy people. So be a giver to someone unsuspecting and watch the little brightnesses reveal themselves…

After a disappointing business meeting, I returned home convinced that a project I’ve been passionately working on for over 8 years would never materialize. This feeling grew into a sense of doom over the course of a few days and by Good Friday, I was utterly hopeless. I felt that my life as a mother, wife, and human being held no worth and I was ready to call it quits for good. My trust and faith had vanished and I turned my bitterness on God, blaming Him for what I perceived to be a failure. I was resigned to the fact that everything I had ever accomplished was a waste, and I felt like the last refuge of hope was a lie.

It was in this state that I retired to bed, drained, lost, and apathetic. The next morning, however, I awoke feeling slightly relieved from the worst of the anxiety. Though I did not yet have any direction, I now had a seed of hope. A new feeling pervaded me, a sense of detachment from all expectation and a desire to release all outcomes. For the first time, I simply let go of this project and removed myself from the stranglehold of expectation and resultant disappointment it had held over me for years. I finally relinquished it. A sudden and unexpected feeling of relief came over me! I felt so liberated and free, like I could breathe again. The feeling was so expansive and utterly peaceful. It was in this state that I entered into a new realm – a cosmos of ALL POSSIBILITY. This new realm was vast and spacious, unlike the crowded room of “expectation” I had been living in. This place was a cosmos of lights, all of them glimmering opportunites and endless possbilities waiting to be fulfilled. I hovered in this space all day, observing its qualities and offerings. There was no grasping, clutching, or clinging; no judgment or assumption, and no disappointment. Only peace and relinquishment. And all of it held in the hand of the Divine.

By Easter Sunday I was completely “new,” in the realm of possibility and feeling weightless. I had released everything, like clearing the monitor of my mind and doing a complete re-boot. Only now there were infinite numbers of opportunities all around me, nothing limiting them, only lighting the energy of my Hope. I had conquered hopelessness. I learned the true nature of Hope more from its absence than I had ever learned from its presence. When hope is gone, it takes along with it all faith, peace, belief, and trust, leaving us empty and lost. But with hope, we can enter into a vast primordial and limitless space. I saw that it is only when we relinquish all things that we are ready to receive all things. It is only when we loosen our attachments that we become open for all outcomes. There is no judgment, no want, and no expectation here. Only peaceful allowance, rightful belonging, and access to all possility.

Can you give up that thing you most desire? Can you relinquish it fully and without regret? Can you gift it to another without any thought of finding its replacement? And can you do this again and again? If so, you have learned and you are finally free.

Then, come join me in the cosmic realm of Hope and the endless possibilities that await us there…

What can we do to ask for this type of love? Can we reject our fellowman or be selfish with our resources? Can we remove ourselves from service to others? Can we give only when it is convenient or easy? Can we allow further harm or disgrace to be present among our humanity?

We can only draw to us what we are sending outward in this paradigm. What is it we choose to relate to – peace or suffering? Do we act in ways that bring peace to others? Do we elect to further our cause of light and meaning among those we associate with? Are we making a statement of love with our deeds or our words? Do we choose to facilitate greater advancement of hope in this world, or do we demote it?

In an energy of love, we can choose to bring ourselves and others to a place of lasting light. We can project in our words and our deeds meaningful and regenerative purpose toward those we come in contact with. We can spread an effect of infinite brightness, or we can squander that brightness. It is up to us, you and me, to choose what it is we want to experience.

When love is abiding, real, and true, it sends out to us all its massive and enduring power which lifts every burden and which transcends every oppression. We abide in love when we give it freely and openly, when we measure out to our fellow beings its grace, and when we ourselves are the recipients of its healing gifts. We must give it to receive it. We must also receive it willingly and freely. Perhaps this is the hardest part.

In love’s new paradigm, all are the beneficiaries of its binding power and all are brought forward through its divine embrace. All are made a part of it and all are given to express it. All are seen as majestic and all are heard as truthful. All are held safely and all are given to soar. All. That is the actuation of its promise. And we will fulfill it upon our acceptance of its pursuit.

Through the understanding that we are all here to serve and be served in an intricate woven tapestry of eternal purpose.

We are reliant on our fellow beings for all that we have and do. On our mothers and fathers, we are dependent for our lives. On our teachers and leaders, we are dependent for our knowledge and direction. On those who harvest the earth and produce food, we are reliant for our sustenance. And for the daily function of the world as we know it, we are dependent on all those hands whose efforts and energies work to make progress happen, in every trade and arena. For our fellow beings, we should give thanks, and believe that we are all here to bless and benefit one another, to lift and help one another, and to sustain and guide one another. It could be no other way.

So, in light and understanding of how our world is affected by each one of us, we begin to realize how elevation through service takes place. And how we, as one, can find purpose and fulfillment in doing our part.

This Hope from which we find solace and empowerment will lead us safely, guide us surely, and bring us swiftly through the dark and perilous seas of life’s great storm. From its safe and sturdy mast we will be led brightly through the darkness and into the great light of freedom and courage, where waits open arms of life-giving salve and healing waters. Our only requirement is to answer its call, to hearken when the voice within whispers, and to take action when we feel urged to do so. This means always reaching for that wisdom which speaks to us through the heart. It means always drawing on the energy of the Infinite for the strength we need to go forward when we feel lost.

In this we can find our way. Through Hope’s bright light we can reach where we need to be. Through Hope we can discover what it is within us that makes for divinity. We can believe, hope, and trust. And we can become, truly, Hope manifested.

In our quest for this help, we find that there are many differing angles which we can hold onto and bring into our sphere for consideration and guidance. One such “angle” is the paramount and spiritual offering that Heaven gives. It allows for us a brighter, renewed perspective that gives us the clarity we seem to lack oftentimes and the direction we need to further our progress here. We can assemble our confidence and our trust to bring about this divine help, and then give our hearts the opportunity to adjust to its new and different feel. This divine resting upon our souls will have a feeling of bright strength and soul-quenching light. It will feel as though we are flying into unknown but kindred horizons, and bring us the evidence that we are reaching for continually: Heaven does exist, We are holy, and Life is a gift.

Let us take a step toward Heaven’s doorstep…one single step…and believe that the help we seek is found within its threshold.

“I WILL” is a creation.

“I CAN” is a possibility.

“I DO” is a mandate.

Our words have power.

In truth, we are the exact beings we need in order to further our progress and our enlightenment. We are the greatness, we are the beauty, and we are the majesty in this world. There is inherent in this mortal experience the bright opportunity to grow and expand our light, our joy. We can learn to see with brighter eyes. We can learn to listen with keener ears. We can learn to feel with softer hearts. And we can learn to be with greater oneness.

Everything we need is right here. Now. In this place. We have it all – it is our belonging. Are we longing for it? It is our cherishment. Are we cherishing it? It is our birthright. Are we living it?

For one moment, feel with your heart – allow your spirit to open – and know that you are becoming. You are.

Ask not for prosperity, but to share it.

Seek not for change, but to be it.

Hope not for a better life, but to create it.

~LeeAnn 2011