A good friend of mine posted the following on her Facebook page the other day:
‘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.’
----from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson
----from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson
It made me think of something that Christ said in one of his talks to his followers—‘Don't hide your light under a bushel basket’. What is the point of keeping a light hidden if it first has been lit? Once the light has been lit within us, we are asked to let it shine. We are asked to share our talents and our gifts with others, not to hide them away or pretend that they don't exist. I think I finally understand this now. False modesty helps no one. Pretending that you have no talents and gifts when you have been given ample talents and gifts is to slam the door in the face of God. It is a unique form of selfishness because you will never know how your talents and gifts could have helped others. You cannot behave in this ungrateful way toward the gift-giver without losing yourself in the long run.
We live in a world that has become crazed by the quest for the proverbial fifteen minutes of fame, but this is not necessarily letting your light shine. In that quest, some people squander their talents by behaving extremely, while others believe that they have talents they don’t have and end up in embarrassing situations. It takes a lot of reflection and introspection to understand who you are, what your particular ‘light’ is, what you can offer the world, and how you can best do this. Some people figure this out when they are very young, whereas others use a good portion of an adult life to figure this out. Either way, it is good that people reach that level of understanding about themselves. Once you reach that level, you can live in harmony with yourself and are less likely to lose your balance or to get pushed off your path by the naysayers and the ones who do not want you to reach your potential or be happy. We all know people who can never say they are happy for others no matter what the achievement or blessing—happiness, wealth, well-deserved fame, the list goes on. It is hard to accept (because it hurts to know it) that there are some people who will never wish you well, who do not want you to shine or be happy, who would rather you stayed put and never grew or changed—all those things. They will never say it directly to you however. They mostly never say anything at all, or if they do, it is only begrudgingly. It is as though your finding your light and reaching your potential forces them to step out of their own shadows and to take a good look at themselves, and they may not like what they see. Or they may not want their worlds rocked in any way. They prefer to stay in the shadows away from the light. But the minute you express a negative thought, they are at your side again because they can relate to you again, to where you once were. The old expression, ‘Misery loves company’, is not so difficult to understand in this context. It could also be rephrased as ‘Fear loves company’. But luckily there are people who will wish you well, who will be happy for you, who will support you as you change and grow. These are the people in your life who are not afraid to really love you—they are not interested in holding you back or keeping you down. They want you to be happy in the truest sense, and you know when you are in the presence of such people. They have found their light and they shine and their light shines on you, warms you, and encourages you to grow. In this way you help others find their own light—by letting yours shine.
