The process rather than the product is primary in caring, for it is only in the present that I can attend to the other.
--Milton Mayeroff

The moment that captures us now is all we have for certain. We can dream endlessly about next week and next year but there are no guarantees. Thus, it is important to care for ourselves and others in this moment. Have we expressed our love to any one of the many special people in our lives today? The effort is small and yet paramount in its impact on how the day unfolds for the givers and the receivers of caring words that inspire - words that speak of love.

Someone close needs our attention today - our encouragement, our inspiration, our recognition. And we need the commitment to focus outside ourselves if we are to discover the gifts promised us in each 24-hour segment of life. It is not coincidence that we feel pulled toward particular people - that we select certain groups to identify with.


Contemplative thoughtfulness about our presence in this time and place will assure us we are needed for the loving growth of many. The mystery unfolds by design.