SHINE!

This week I had one of those "aha" moments. I made a gift for someone, and they absolutely loved it. As they exclaimed over it and admired it, they asked if it had taken me long to make. I shrugged and said, "Not very long" - when in fact I spent many hours working on it. I poured alot of heart and soul into it. Why then, did I diminish it? Why did I feel the need to fib about how much effort I had put into that gift?

You know that song, "This Little Light of Mine, I'm Gonna Let It Shine?" How many of us are afraid to let our "lights" shine? How many of us hold back a large part of ourselves?

Maybe we are afraid of being braggarts. Nobody likes a boastful, prideful person. From a young age, our parents teach us modesty and humility, which is not a bad thing in itself. But where do we draw the line? There is a very big difference between sharing our gifts with the world, and showing off. Even if we're fearful of ridicule or rejection, we need to realize that by hiding our gifts, we are hiding an essential part of ourselves.

Each of us has a little spark of the Divine within. By denying that part of ourselves, we also deny God within us! We have a responsibility to share ourselves with the world; not in a way that proclaims us to be better than anyone else, but in a way that uplifts and enriches others. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the world, and we owe it to God, the one who gave us these gifts and abilities to begin with. What good is a gift that doesn't get used? Imagine a flower being afraid to bloom, rain being afraid to fall, the sun being afraid to shine. We need to shift our perspective and realize that by hiding our lights, we are not serving anyone. Love, unexpressed, is not love at all.

OK, light a match...hold it up high...and sing..."This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."