SHINING YOUR LIGHT IN DIFFICULT TIMES

We live in challenging times.

The news is full of heartbreaking and traumatic events. Many people are experiencing fear, anger, helplessness, a loss of faith and trust. When these emotions overwhelm us, we can lose our connection to the divinity that is within us and outside of us.

So what can we do to help ourselves and the world?

We can find a community where we can support and love one another, share our thoughts and feelings with each other, laugh and celebrate together, grow and serve the world together. We can nurture ourselves by taking care of our bodies, being in nature, doing spiritual practices and creative endeavors, and attending to our emotional well-being. We can help others through selfless service and by live our calling. We can live in alignment with our spiritual values and make every action a spiritual offering. In these ways, we can reestablish and strengthen our connection to the divine within and all around us and shine our love and light into the world.

A few weeks ago, I was watching the live-stream of a holiday concert by the Seattle University choirs. At the end of the concert, a gentleman offered the following blessing.

“Blessed are you who bears the light in unbearable times,

  who testifies to its endurance amid the unendurable,

  who bears witness to its persistence

  when everything seems in shadow and grief.

Blessed are you in whom the light lives,

  in whom the brightness blazes,

  your heart a chapel,

  an alter where,

  in the deepest night,

  can be seen the fire that shines forth in you

  in uncountable ways,

  in stubborn hope,

  in love that illuminates

  every broken thing it finds.”