Bill Murray, in his “sailing” scene from one of my favorite movies “What About Bob.”

Someone I know and love refers to themselves from time to time as the “Black Sheep of the Family.” I know this person well, and they are NOT any kind of black sheep. Yet, this is how they seem to see themselves, this is how they label themselves. Truthfully, it’s how many of us label ourselves. And too often it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What if instead, we all labeled ourselves as “virtuous?” What if we all saw ourselves as created in the image of God, created to love ourselves and love one another by continuously, creatively, expressing the virtues in all of our dealings with ourselves and with others? 

What if we all had the “seed” of virtue just waiting within us to be cultivated, watered, fed and nourished so that the seed within us would grow into the magnificent tree it was created to be?

Danielle Shroyer (The Soul Ninja) shared the following a while back on her website danielleshroyer.com :

Norman Fischer writes, “Seed of virtue is the recognition of our noble heritage as human beings.” We practice believing- and not just believing, but really knowing, in a way that empowers our living– that within each of us lies a seed of virtue. Nobody is born without this seed. We have everything we need to cultivate it and help it grow. It belongs to us, and it is our gift to others also. The wisdom behind this heart strength is that when we know that, we don’t give up…we keep at it best when we know and trust that it will create something beautiful.

Like Bill Murray says, “Baby steps, baby steps…”