Happiness comes into our lives when we display love and care for other people. Showing love, lending a helping hand, and showing you care is one of God’s greatest gifts.
If love lives within us, we can share it with our families, friends, and those who are total strangers to us. Love comes in many forms. It can be a loving relationship with our spouses and our children; love for our parents and our siblings; love for a dear friend; love for a stranger; love of the earth and its beauty.
Have you ever given a thought to what love gives back? I cannot imagine life without love and caring in my heart, mind and soul. If we didn’t have this gift, wouldn’t life be so empty? We would go on aimlessly without a purpose in our lives.
I wish you enough
The following inspirational story was told to me by my Nana Scully and it should remind us to take the time to tell the people we love and care about what we wish for them.
Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the father said, “I love you, and I wish you enough.” The daughter replied “Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.” They kissed and the daughter left.
The father walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking “Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?”
“Yes, I have” I replied. “Forgive me for asking, but why is this forever goodbye?”
“I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is—the next trip back will be for my funeral,” he said.
“When you were saying goodbye, I heard you say, I wish you enough, May I ask what that means?” I asked.
He began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.”
Then turning toward me, he shared the following, as if he were reciting if from memory.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough Hellos to get you through the final Goodbye.
He paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and he smiled even more.
“When we said I wish you enough, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them so that others too could have enough.”
Thought for the week
As your thought for the week, remember they say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Remember to tell your family and friends that you wish them enough!
