“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you know.” ― A.A. Milne, The Pooh Story Book

Every word of this quote is true. He wrote it for his son, however, we can all learn some valuable lessons by looking at these words in detail. Milne did not speak about God or religion often. He did call Hitler the anti-Christ. He writes poems that indicated he was thinking about God and believed God exists. The words in the poem are encouraging and thought-provoking either way.

You are brave. The trick to being a brave soul is to believe it not feel it. Your emotions can deceive you. You can listen to your heart it always tells the truth by your emotions that live in your brain flat out lies.

You are strong. Every time you are placed into a situation that you think you can’t deal with then you make it through, you learn more about your strength. This is a tough one because mostly it is the stressful, sad and devastating moments that teach us our strength.

You are smart. There are different kinds of smart. There are book smart people and there are common sense or street smart people. I believe that everyone has the capacity to be smart. It is in your brain someplace. Where the brain is not good for emotions it is wonderful for logic. You have to brave enough to tap into your smarts.

You are loved. If you were ever loved just once then are you forever loved. God sends love to us through each other and, I believe through pets. You may be alone right now but somewhere on this planet or in the other spiritual realm, someone loves you.

When you are loved, truly loved and you know it, all the other things, bravery, strength, and smarts are all easy. You have nothing to fear and you can do anything you set your mind to when you have love.

Remember you can give all the things to someone else. You can encourage someone to be brave. You can give someone your strength and you can teach someone logic. Then you can love them through all of life’s ups and downs.

What is in it for you? You become courageous, you get stronger, you learn more and you get loved back.

All of this will bring happiness.

See how wise A A Milne was? He may not have been a Christian, but God sure believed in him. God gave him a talent for sharing truth even if he did not know it. He wrote seven novels, some poetry, and various forms of nonfiction.

If you haven’t read any of Milne’s works start with Pooh, and then read his other works of fiction and nonfiction. Then let me know if you agree with me?

Peace & Light,

Lori