Rumi says,
Loving God is the only pleasure. Other delights
turn bitter. What hurts the soul?
To live without tasting the water of its own essence….
People focus on … this material earth.
They have doubts about soul water.
These doubts can be reduced! Use night to wake
your clarity. Darkness and the living water are lovers.
Let them stay up together.
When merchants eat their big meals
and sleep their dead sleep,
we night-thieves go to work….
You have a hundred cynical doubts about God.
Make them ninety-nine….
God accepts counterfeit money.
On this day, I’m sorrowful about a family member’s emotional problems and the continuing disruption they cause. Precious days of young childrens’ lives are being compromised–children too young to have a voice in the refusal of their adults to put aside blame and lack of forgiveness.
In such times, I turn to Rumi. He never fails to remind me where the focus of my life must be. One meaning of saying that “loving God is the only pleasure,” may be that only in our continuing affirmation of life, love and forgiveness can we find inner joy and peace regardless of what others may do.
