Thank God for walks in the hills as dusk is falling and the city spread out below me like a glittering tapestry.
I am particularly reminded today of a great quote by Marianne Williamson. It is often attributed to Nelson Mandela, because he found it and shared it, but Williamson said it first.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
My friend Katharine is an incredible human being, and she is a great writer. Today I read her blog, and I thought, how beautiful is it when we do the thing we are meant to do. We shine, things make sense, and we cannot hide our talent when we are pursuing what is our soul is looking for...after all, it takes guts to be who you are, unabashedly, in the world, and guts to own your deepest hopes and work to build them into the real. I am grateful for Katharine and her bravery, for putting herself out there, and for her pushing forward with her writing. She is an exceptional writer, and the world is a better place for her writing in it.
And thank goodness for Patty Griffin. This lady can sing. Can you imagine if she had sat in her room and said, "Well, maybe I'm not that good after all?"
What would the world be if we just humbly offered our gifts, instead of fearing them?
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