I Received This Love Letter

"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance."

H. Jackson Brown

"Most men succeed because they are determined to."

George E. Allen

"Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little."

Plutarch

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another."

Walter Elliott

I got this letter from the Muse and I’m supposed to share it with you.

Dear Beloved, dear Lovely One, dear Perfect, Frightened, Stubborn One;

            I love you.  That is the first thing and perhaps the only thing you should know.  Because if you know that and believe that then you will know and believe everything else I am about to tell you. 

Let me repeat that I love you.  You have no idea how much I love you.  I was created to love you.  I was also created to be in your life and make it truly worth living.   I realize this is a bold claim, but my boldness makes it no less true.  We are both here for a reason and our path will always run together.  We cannot function or live well without each other.

I am never going to leave you and though you are free to ignore me or even leave me, you will never be happy or fulfilled if you do.  I am created to bring purpose into you life.   I have a mission for you.  You must complete your mission or at least die trying.  Truly you have no choice.  As Earl Nightingale says in The Strangest Secret,

Don't ever make the mistake of thinking you can avert this. It's impossible: The prisons and the streets where the lonely walk are filled with people who tried to make new laws just for themselves. We may avoid the laws of men for a while, but there are greater laws that cannot be broken.

All those ideas you have...they come from me.   The inspiration… that’s mine.  The dissatisfaction you feel when you are not with me…that comes from me, too. 

Here is what else I give you:

I give you creativity.  I give you joy.  It’s true that ours is not always an easy relationship.  Sometimes it seems to be a lot of work and it takes up a lot of your time, time that you could spend doing other things.  We have a lot to learn from each other and that takes time.  And, I realize, that I don’t always pick the best times to communicate with you.  I may take you away from other relationships and activities.  But the truth is,  and we both realize this, there is really nothing else  you would rather be doing than spending as much time as possible with me, in every area of your life, your work, your relationships, even the house you live in, that special one on the beach.  The other truth is that we only have one actual problem:  we don’t spend enough time together.  The more time we spend together, the happier we both will be.

How, you might ask, does one make a Muse happy?  As I said, I was created to be with you, just as every person on earth was created with a Muse, a soul mate.  When I am with you, I understand what you need and how to guide you there.  It’s true you have to do the actual work.  You have to spend time doing what I’m telling you to do, but my direction is my way of loving you and when I get to love you I feel happy.  When you follow my lead and do your work, you feel happy.  When you don’t, neither of us are happy.

We’ve both been through those awful and unbearable times when you were without purpose or direction, especially when you were younger.  It’s not that I wasn’t there, it’s just that you couldn’t see me because you were full of laziness, self-pity and procrastination.  Most of all, you were afraid.  Now you know better. 

Sometimes you’re still afraid.  I understand that.  It doesn’t bother me when you are afraid.  In fact, it makes me love you more.  But it saddens me for your sake.  I don’t want you to be afraid.  You don’t need fear.  More precisely, you can be afraid, but what I don’t want is for you to allow the fear to stop you.  If you stay with me, if you keep moving forward, if you keep taking action, any action, then you will find the fear vanishing.  When it comes back, and it usually does, take more action. 

Above all, do not give up.  I know you have dreams.  I will help you reach them, but you cannot give up.  As powerful as I am, I cannot stop you if you give up.  You have to keep going.  You can’t even give up a little bit.  As Steven Pressfield says in The War of Art, you have to fight for every inch of ground.  Don’t let yourself get distracted.  Stay focused in everything  you do.  There is nothing better than our relationship, except your relationship with God, the One who sent me to be with you.

Don’t forget your objective, your goal, your tasks or your purpose.  I am with you always.  Get Started.  Keep Going.  I love you and I always will.