We Beheld Again The Stars

"We climbed, he first, I following, till to sight

  Appeared those things of beauty that heaven wears

  Glimpsed through a round opening, faintly bright;

  Thence issuing, we beheld again the stars."

            - Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Inferno.Canto XXXIV.

                  Translated by Laurence Binyon

And so Dante and Virgil climb out of the depths of hell, and take a breath of fresh air. And Dante gazes at the stars.

These four lines have been going through my head since I read them, and they refuse to go out. What a wonderful poet Dante was. When I read them, I couldn't help but smile to myself as I thought about them.

Dante and Virgil had just experienced Hell, in the most literal sense of the word. They had gone and seen all the punishments of the sinners, and had experienced the pain, the torment, and the misery of Hell. Yet, no word of complaint escapes from Dante's mouth. Instead comes the realization of a blessing, or the gratitude for those beautiful things that heaven wears.

How often is it that I look at all the negative things that happen to me, and I don't focus on all the things that have been given to me? Nothing can ever be so bad that I can not look around, and see something wonderful, like the stars, or the clouds, or hear the sound of a laugh.

And troubles always come, no doubt about it, but goodness, isn't that what we're here for? To learn, and grow, and become something better?

And no doubt, God will always give you something at the end of a trial, as a way of saying "I'm proud of you." like the stars that Dante sees.

I feel like I've been ungrateful lately, or selfish. I could say I never wanted to be, but a friend of mine taught me that you never make a choice you ultimately don't want to make. And I can choose to be grateful, and happy, and positive, just as I can choose to be ungrateful, and sad, and negative.

I have been going through a rough time lately, but that gives me no excuse. It's only rough because I'm  focusing on the negative, instead of the positive. And I'll make it through this trial, just as Dante made it through Hell. And I can look at those beautiful things that heaven wears every night, to remind me to keep going.

I know I can be better.  It's my choice after all.

Selfishness and Ingratitude never lead to anything but misery. Living with those is not really living at all.

"Real Life is a response to the best within us. To be alive only to appetite, pleasure, pride, money-making, and not to goodness and kindness, purity and love, poetry, music, flowers, stars, God and eternal hopes, is to deprive one's self of the real joy of living"

       - David O' McKay

Goodness and Kindness. Purity and Love. Poetry, music, flowers, and Stars.

That's what I'm living for. That's what I'm supposed to spread.

That's what I'm supposed to notice. That's what I'm supposed to show to others.

And hey, look at that, I can see a star out of the window...