When I was a child, it was This Little Light of Mine. Unconsciously, I learned a very important lesson that day that would not remember until 15 years later....That's right...today, as a 23 year old, this important lesson just dawned on me as I was thinking about my future (hopefully I will be able to reveal that tidbit later).
What is that lesson? Think on the lyrics: 'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine/ This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine/This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine/ let it shine, let it shine, let it shine/Everywhere I go....
Got it yet? Well have no fear, just patience, it will be revealed soon.
There is a familiar quote that everyone knows, maybe not word for word, but enough to know the severity of it's meaning:
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, georgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually who are we not to be? You are the child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
~ Marianne Williamson.
Today, I realized we were given this tool for our own very souls. I was thinking about the importance of spirituals and hymns today, actually worrying that we are losing the meanings and lessons that they taught. We were taught at an early age "This Little Light of Mine" for a reason. It was a contract; it was a proclamation to that we would be the best people that we can be. Furthermore, it was a declaration that we recognized that we each have gifts, even if we did not know what those gifts were. How often do we think on that contract? You signed it. Yes you did. I know I did, because after I learned it, I wouldn't stop singing it. Even when I physically stopped singing it, my mind and soul kept singing that song.
Think about your contract. Are the terms met in full? Are they still being negotiated? Or has it come up null and void?
Think about other hymns that you have learned. One that comes to mind is "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" 'What a Friend we have in Jesus/ all our sins and griefs to bear!/What a privilege to carry/ everything to God in prayer!/O what peace we often forfeit/O what needless grief we bear/All because we do not carry/everything to God in prayer.'
There was a lesson in this as well--we might have ignored it, and might even feel a bit silly when we recognize that lesson there. We carry things that we need not because God is our refuge and our strong tower, and we should give it all to him, but do we? (Go ahead and shake your head no, you know that you've carried things that you shouldn't have because you were too stubborn to give it to God.) And if you aren't waving your hand in testimony at this point, I am waving my own hand at this one...
Peace and Blessings,
Bumble.
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