Let Your Light Shine

Broken pieces spread before us, every where we look. The world is broken by us and by itself and we're all broken.

White smoke billows out of a chimney, ushering in a new era in a broken old system. A broken religion. New is hopeful. Change can move us forward, but it can also move us backwards. And while we watch with eager eyes this truth is known in our hearts and minds. And it doesn't matter one little bit. This smoke fades into the night sky and disappears and it makes no difference. 

via

Each person walking through this world has their own story. Their own pain. Their own sadness. Their plight doesn't matter as it fades into the night. 

The darkness swallows it all. The darkness of night, the darkness of the past and the darkness of the future and the darkness of the present, too. 

It's all dark and it's all broken.

Yet, we're still here. And we see the light and the hope and we care about our stories and the stories of those walking down the street holding their sadness in a little bag as though it were something so simple as groceries, hidden from the world yet held close. 

And it does matter.

It's not all dark. Clear cut and well lit, it may not be. But it's not all dark. 

Everyday people pick up their broken pieces and glue them back together and move forward. Today, those people make choices. They can choose to become harder or softer. And we all need to make the choice to be softer. To be more forgiving. To be more understanding. 

These paths we walk down are all different but none of them are well lit. We all start our walks in the dark and we make our own light. 

One dark night in the cold of winter I pushed my own light from my body. I went forward that night in pain and fear, and then she cried and light radiated around me. A broken world was still broken but my path was lit. And I felt hope and love and happiness, and I knew that I would strive to make this world around me the best place I could for that light to keep burning. 

Let it shine. 

We all have our own choices to make and we are in control of the outcomes of our lives. 

We're  in the driver's seat. The controls to the headlights are in our own hands. Push that handle forwards and turn the brights on. Illuminate your world. Bathe the dark in the light. Hold tight to that wheel and don't forget who's in control. Pick up the pieces when things fall apart and glue them  back together. Don't feel sad for the cracks because they show strength instead of weakness. 

When it gets dark, shine your light brighter. Shine for the sake of shining. Be kinder than necessary. Be firm and yield. Love. 

Do it all for love, with love.