Light Up Your World…
“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.” —Hafiz
Walking this morning, thinking about today’s newsletter, I couldn’t stop songs popping into my mind about light. From Katy Perry’s Firework (“You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine…”) to an old song by England Dan & John Ford Coley, Love is the Answer (“Light of the world, shine on me, love is the answer…”), my walk was awash in light. What song might light your way today?
“As a young person growing up in the Baptist Church, one of the songs we sang was This Little Light of Mine. ‘I’m going to let it shine.’ And I recall some of the stories about how I could let the light shine in our world and where I might bring that light. I suspect this was the budding of a missionary call to Africa so many years later. . . Now as I enter the third quarter of my life, I am keenly aware that “doing” has evolved into more an awareness of simply ‘being.’”
–Jean Springer
A traditional gospel song by Harry Dixon Loes, This Little Light of Mine became a powerful Civil Rights protest anthem and continues to uplift and empower people today. So if you don’t know what to do to help another or our world right now, shine brightly. It could make all the difference in the world.
May your light shine brightly today. And may a song of light lift your spirits and guide you forward whenever you need it.
They Just Shine
“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to the shining—they just shine.” — Dwight L. Moody
Let Your Own Light Shine…
“You playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightening about shrinking so others won’t feel insecure around you. As you let your own light shine, you indirectly give others permission to do the same.”
—Marianne Williamson
Blessed Are You Who Bear the Light
Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.
Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes—
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.
— Jan Richardson from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons.
