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Peace be with you.

This week, I want to remind you just how special you are.

You may ask how I know you’re special if we haven’t met in person, and I’ll tell you: As a self-pronounced Catholic Spiritualist with a little bit of Buddhism thrown in (the way I’ve described myself since I was a teenager), I recognize the same divine spark in you that our Creator put inside all of us.

When you were a child, did you ever sing “This little light of mine?” It’s a children’s song that my mother taught my siblings and me long before I ever heard anyone at our Catholic church sing it. I won’t give you all the lyrics, but I’ll share the chorus, so you’ll get the gist of it:

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let is shine, 
Let is shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Then the versus include “Won’t let Satan phoof it out. I’m gonna let it shine,” and “Put it under a bushel, no! I’m gonna let it shine.”

It’s a song that teaches children a lesson that many adults have forgotten. Every single one of us has the Creator’s light within us.

In Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27, the Bible says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” That means each of us is born with the same capacity to know, love, and choose goodness, and we’re called to shine that light for others.

Maybe you’re not of the Judeo-Christian lineage. In Buddhism, light represents a luminous mind, liberation, and an awakened person who is no longer suffering in darkness. In Hinduism, light symbolizes Brahman, the eye, the individual Self, gods, divinity, purity, supreme bliss, divine power, divine quality, any heavenly body.

I’m just reminding you that across faiths and cultures and even “in a galaxy far, far away,” choosing light over darkness is the right thing to do.

Another thing my mother taught me when I was a child – don’t let the behavior or words of others bring you down to their level.

It’s so easy to be petty when someone resorts to name-calling instead of having a rational discussion about things we disagree on. The naturally broken part of our humanness – the part that easily forgets we were created in God’s image – really likes to get that last zinger in. It likes to think we’re always right, even when we don’t know all the details. It wants to be superior in knowledge and strength.

We often see that attitude in our political leaders. They’re so worried about optics and power that they forget about grace and human dignity.

So, who should we look to for that reminder that every single one of us has the ability to choose light, and that – even better – we carry our own light within us?

Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr., Buddha, the Saints… those are all worthy.

But what about our neighbors? Our coworkers? Our friends and family?

My challenge to you this week is to recognize the light in the people around you, commend them publicly for sharing their light, encourage them to keep it up, and share your own light with others.



Go forth and shine!

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