For some time I’ve excused the time I’ve spent plying social media, reasoning that it’s important to stay connected as part of my business network and to participate in several professional development groups. Self-discipline would keep me selectively focused only on posts relevant to my intention.

Yet, as happens with most of us from time to time, last month I found myself uncharacteristically sucked in by noisy chatter. It only took a few days of reading comments from both sides of the immigration argument to knock me off center and leave me feeling faintly hopeless. Thankfully, using devices I’ve stored in my inner toolbox that I trust to pull me out of perceived darkness, I didn’t stay off kilter for long. Ultimately, the bottom line was a return to Love—not the veil of earthly love but the Love that is the Higher Consciousness within all that is, has ever been or will be.

The morning after I decided to give myself permission to occasionally visit social pages when necessary for professional purposes or to catch up with a friend, I received a Rumi poem from a dear friend. The lesson helped bring me back to center and to feel the love that we all long for regardless of life circumstances. It signifies the universal answer to the unrest we are experiencing in America at anytime and especially as we celebrate America’s independence and cherished freedoms. We are always at liberty to love.

Through Love

by Rumi

Through Love bitter things seem sweet.

Through Love scraps of copper are turned to gold.

Through Love dregs taste like clear wine.

Through Love agonies are healing balms.

Through Love thorns become roses.

Through Love vinegar becomes rich wine.

Through Love the scaffold becomes a throne.

Through Love disaster becomes good fortune.

Through Love a prison becomes a rose garden.

Through Love burning fire is a fragrant light.

Through Love the devil becomes an angel.

Through Love stones become soft as butter.

Through Love grief is like delight.

Through Love demons become servants of God.

Through Love stings are like honey.

Through Love lions are harmless as mice.

Through Love sickness is health.

Through Love the dead are resurrected.

Through Love the emperor becomes a slave.

May we all deeply feel the Love that is greater than any force of man,

Maisie Raftery, Publisher