“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.” – Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love.
I read this quote and it got me thinking…. ‘Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…’ We live in a world that teaches us that if we are too much of something it’s a turn off. We can be pretty, but not too pretty or we may be labeled as conceited. We can be kind, but not too kind or we may be taken advantage of. We can be direct, but not too direct or else we may be labeled as a“b****” etc… We are taught that we should fit in a box of what society and our parents have deemed as correct. Go to school, get a job, live the american dream ( just don’t follow your own dreams). But what happens when we outgrow the box, and it breaks? What do we do now? Marriane poses a great point,‘It’s our light that most frightens us’. And it does. Our inner light is a foreign concept. Think about it, when we were growing up we didn’t have adults around us who were encouraging us to be different. If we showed any differences, we were molded to fit in. We were not taught to stand out and be light in the darkness. On the contrary, we had adults who were still struggling to find and embrace their inner lights and truths who were damaging the children around them because they had no idea how to be who God called them to be, let alone teach us how to be who God called us to be. When I was researching ideas to write about, and I came across this quote from A Return To Love, I pondered it and asked God where was He taking me? And He said “let’s start with the beginning… Creation.”
“In the beginning, the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered deep waters.” (Genesis 1:1-2) I imagine the earth looked like a vast ocean without moonlight. Just darkness all around. No sound, no life, just darkness, water and the spirit of God. Then God saw a need, and He said “let there be light” (ding!) and He saw that the light was good. When God created the heavens and the earth it had never been done before, it was a foreign concept, but He had faith enough to know that by Him bringing the light to the darkness it would be a good thing. He could have very well left the earth the way that it was but He knew that He could be of some help to this lonely planet. When I read the story of creation, I can see how God literally dreamed this whole world up. He was so intentional with everything! Even down to how he cultivated the earth with seeds and plants for us to be able to live off of even before He created us to live. God saw that a change was needed on earth and He became that change. He became the light. Who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Like Marrianne, I ask, who are we not to be? We sit on our God given gifts for fear that we may be judged because we are going against the grain, not realizing that that’s the precise reason why we are here. We have something to give. We are a part of God’s plan to bring goodness to the earth. We are His children, and the same power of creation that He has, He has given us, we just haven’t tapped into it yet. We fear becoming the light because we are surrounded by so much darkness. But the wonderful thing is that God literally gives us a blueprint from the beginning of how we may be the light in this world. All we have to do is say “let there be light!” and be the light. Let’s continue to be the change we wish to see in the world!
-Danielle.
Life of a Diamond 