"For many months I've wanted to tell you about a paragraph which was in one of the Fellowship newsletters. I cut it out because I thought it quite significant.... While the general thought wasn't new, the presentation was very succinct and better than I could have written no matter how long I worked at it."

He continued, "It goes like this: ‘Love, if it is good and turned toward others, becomes a thing of joy; but if one loves only oneself, it has a different form and becomes destructive before it has become a part of good. It is so with each form of positive and negative love. If one can see himself in the eyes of another, he is not looking into himself or praising himself, for the eyes of another can see what no one can see within himself. So each must turn his eyes outward, not inward, for that which is reflected is never the true source. It is only that which others see in us, not what we see in a mirror that counts; for in looking at ourselves in a mirror, the reflection does not seem filled with faults. All we see is that part of us that looks like it is correct. We cannot see our own flaws for we live with them, we cannot accept our own failings for we have been with them for so long that they have become positive, not negative....’

"I re-read that every so often," Jim concluded, "to remind myself that when I look in the ‘mirror’ I'm not seeing the real me. It seems to provide the day's shot of humility."

And he added: "P.S.: I read the Wisdoms every month hoping to find a nugget like the one above."

We sincerely thank Jim Long for taking the time to let us know his reaction. Incidentally, the passage he quoted was taken from a Wisdom that has been reprinted on this website in the Wisdoms section. Now titled "Living in Love and Light," it appears in the Personal Guidance category.

Have you found a Wisdom that especially appealed to you or that somehow had a strong effect on your life? If so, we’d be delighted to hear about it.