Shine

Is new life really new?  Is anything really new?  We can hear the adage “if it’s new it’s not true, if it’s true, it ain’t new.”  Ok.  That’s slightly depressing.  So nothing in life can really be authentically new?  Nothing can be truly original?  We are simply bound to repeat some sort of history?

Are we a mere copy of something (or someone) in the past?

That sounds kind of true.  But it’s a fallacy IF we are actually an original, uniquely designed one of a kind.  Then we are actually set apart for something special, specifically at this unique time in history, in our specific context - which, though similar, is unlike any other time in history.

We believe that.  No one has been here.  Not right here.

And so we are led into our unique journey, one that can be informed by another’s but not prescribed by it.   Ours is like, and unlike, any other -unique among billions and billions.  Sharable?  Yes. Similar?  Yes. Archetypal?  Sure, all of the above.  But still completely unique.  Still mine alone.   

I AM still unique among them all.

Which is why I must face down my own choices.  Understand my own mortality.  Accept my own responsibility.  This is my life.  I must own it.  I must own my choices.  But not in regret or submission.  But in joy.  Believing the many broken pieces can stil be made into a beautiful picture.

Life unfolds, maybe not as we envisioned, maybe not exactly how we imagined it in our wildest wonder, but the feelings and colors were there.  Our dreamlike narratives confirm a reality - w hat we always really wanted is here, however deep. It is here.

This is it!  The thing we have been after IS happening.  More than we imagine.

But we are only beginning to see it unfold in our own experience.  In our lifetime, it is small doses.  Very small.  Almost microscopic at times. But they are there.  Consistent.  Provocative.  Happening.  Over and over and over again.  Life is growing.  Life is finding a way in us.

All over the place.

And the joy of being human, at the end of the day, are these moments.  These divinely-infused moments when grace breaks through and we get clarity, insight, relational connectedness.  Such breakthrough moments make it all worth it.  Even in the near term.

These eternal moments give us just enough revelation to continue our journey.

To keep trying.  To remember the game we are playing.  To believe in its value.  To care.  To risk losing.  To learn from losing.  To never forget who we are.  That we are called to push against the rules.  We are called to find meaning.  To remember purpose.  To believe in hope.      

Even to find within our unique callings the seeds of eternity, the sprinkles of divine light -  indeed reflections of perfect grace, refractions of an unrelenting love.  We are not our own.  Our gifts are not for us alone.  We are part of a bigger story.

We are called into a Kingdom where we must work for the common good.

That is where our light comes.  When we shine it outside ourselves.  Into the dark.  If we insist on staying indoors - inside ourselves, our current worlds, our zone of comfort, we will miss it.  We will miss the thrill of shining our light.  Of focusing it out into the world.  Into the hearts of others.

When that happens, something VERY special begins: a powerful energy is released.  There is an intersection of spirits, a unique combination of gifts and energy that create a new occurence of Good, making it available to the universe.  Delivering strength, hope-producing courage.

It can happen.  And really does!

Belief gives way to realization, to real things emerging into this world.  Soon we experience things we had only imagined.  We hardly recognize them in the flesh, in real time.  But they are  happening.  As promised.  As dreamed.  As hoped for.  In this world.  Even now.