SHINE. My word for 2014.

Shine.

I’m going to do a bit more of this. From the inside out.

And I’m not going to get it twisted. 

Because one kind of shining is for stages and one kind is for knowing 20,000 leagues down in my heart that I AM PRECIOUS in the eyes of the one who made me.

And I know the feeling because I love a little person whose EVERY breath matters to me.  I cheered today because she ate the BIGGEST bite of oatmeal. And I made rhymes, and songs and puns about it. “Oats Magotes!” “Oh, Oh, Oh, you and mommy eating O, o, oats.” “Thank you for that bite. I oats it all to you.”

And I’m going to leverage this new understanding so that I can really truly live in the knowledge that I too am beyond loved and sung over.

I’m going to SHINE and be the warmth in my home.

I’m going to SHINE when I meet a stranger because I won’t be thinking about how I’m not showered or wearing make up. I will be thinking about them and how they are.

I am going to SHINE when I feel afraid because I know the one who goes before me.

 “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, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. 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. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"