THE END IS NEAR.....or.....IS IT JUST THE BEGINNING?

 The school year is nearly completed and a new chapter is about to begin in so many lives.  For some, it is always a difficult adjustment, for others, it is a gift.  I embrace it as a gift and allow a renewing, deep breath to integrate my head and my heart. An opportunity for reflection, recognition and reclamation. A piece of light. A thread of wisdom. A rock of truth. 

A resolution that I have clung to for a couple of years, is to read more books, and get to a place in my life where I can deepen my sense of value: not overestimating myself or underestimating others.  Where there is a breathing space to light a candle for others and shine value upon every person.  I truly believe everything that comes at us, is doing so, as part of a plan that is destined to make us better.  Someone once said, "Our brightest light can only shine after we accept our darkness." That stuck with me and has become part of my story, my fabric, my legacy.  That if we all have the courage to chip away our outer shell, the very layer that protects us from the world, we will reveal the gold that is within us. For some, the shell locks in and paralyzes their ability for  "real" forgiveness. For some the shell hides self-shame from the eyes of the world.  For others, it's a thick wall of protection from even more pain.  I think your greatest expression of yourself is to use your past to help you reclaim your light. Ludwig Von Beethoven was a living representation of exactly that.  He went deaf from an illness, suffered from a brokenheart, all the while, embracing this immense passion to create...look at what he did with his pain. His darkness was actually his enlightenment and I believe that we all harbor that ability within the depths of our soul.  

I recently journeyed across these sayings. I felt a connection to them and wanted to share them with those who happen across my blog. 

Taken recently in Florida, (my parents and my Aunt), I wanted to include this picture in honor of my amazing parents, who instilled in me, at a very young age, that my worth was bigger than the planet, and that my life's dreams mattered.  Their constant love, support and belief in me carries me along every step and every breath that this journey we call "life", allows.  There are no physical words to accurately speak the language of my heart for what they mean to me.  

Another picture from Florida (my Aunt and my mom) which represents such a powerful analogy for the pulse of this blog posting.  Stretching out into the endless horizon is a pier for each of our lives. Straight, solid, secure, but finite. Some choose to journey solely on that pier, and others choose to use the pier as a guide,but not as to limit the landscape of their lives.  How can we know courage, if we haven't known fear? How can we know happiness, if we haven't known sadness? How can we know light, if we don't know darkness? Allow yourself true freedom. Venture off the pier, but keep it in sight.  Feed your heart. Cultivate your innerself.  


May God's rich blessings drench your soul today.