Tag Archive for: I am enough

Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day
,

Rise and Shine 15: A Blessing from St. Therese

ST. THERESE

 

        She said, “May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you .  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us.”

 

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that reflects St. Therese’s words.  Can you see it?  Can you see yourself living in a world that honors you as exactly who you are — a world that allows “your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love?”

Keep your eyes closed and experience this place.  As your mind embraces the beauty and wonder of a world of light and love rather than a world of darkness and hate, your body begins to experience a lightness that it can only vaguely remember.  You see yourself as the joyful child you were before the world blew holes in you and locked you in a prison of pain.    Suddenly, miraculously,  the fear of being “less than” and of enduring the excruciating pain that you believe the world inflicts on you because you are “less than” vanishes.  You are free!  The wonder of being free fills your eyes with tears of joy.

Open your eyes!   The picture of the life and the world that St. Therese paints is exactly what God intended for you all along.

Freedom or fear?   You have the God-given free will power to set yourself free.  CHOOSE!

 

/by
Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

Rise and Shine 14: Choosing to Shine

PHENOMENAL WOMAN

By Maya Angelou

 

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing of my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

 

Maya Angelou chose to shine as herself rather than as the person the world told her she had to be in order to be accepted…and it made all the difference to her and to the world.  Who would you be if you chose to shine as yourself?  Your light just might transform the world…and you.

 

 

 

/by
Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

Rise and Shine 13: Living a Dream

High Flight

by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

 

This blog is scheduled to post at 8:00 AM on Monday, October 14, 2019. At that moment in time, I will be living a life-long dream as I float high above the earth in a brilliantly colored, hot air balloon. Close your eyes. Can you see me? Can you feel the wonder and joy that I feel? Join me as I “put out my hand and touch the face of God.”

/by
Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

Rise and Shine 12: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

“A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep”, sings Cinderella in the movie Cinderella by Walt Disney.  I loved that song and that movie as a small child; I love it still.  In fact, it touched me so profoundly that I can still sing that song in its entirety… and often do.

A heart makes many wishes during the human life of its owner, and it doesn’t matter whether that human is asleep or awake. Yet many of those dreams never reach the light of day.  Why?  Having dreams and finding a way to make those dreams come true brings out the best parts in each of us.   I believe that the heart and soul sing in glorious harmony when we are creating, seeking, and living our dreams.  Again, why do so many dreams never reach the light of day?  I believe the answer is a complicated one.

Perhaps a history of my dreams will shed some light.  I started a “Bucket List” as a very small child, and the things on my list were small — a pinwheel, five extra minutes of play with my best friend, a soft yellow kitten.  Those tiny wishes were as big to my young and innocent heart as marrying Prince Charming was to a young woman of the 1950s.  As I grew, my dreams grew.   I became a young woman and dreamed of a wondrous and charmed life — one in which I would earn a college degree,  marry Prince Charming, and have children.  Some of my dreams came true; some did not.  Twice I have had to rise from the ashes of my life like the mythical Phoenix.  I did not rise by my own strength; I rose by the grace of God.

My experiences are not unique.  Wounded hearts and souls are common to this earthly journey.  The corpses of dreams great and small litter one path after another as human lives are shattered by the fears that “I am not enough” and that this hollow, empty life is my punishment.  The pain makes it very difficult to see clearly or to believe there is any hope. Then grace appears; the same grace that saved me is ready and waiting to save you.  The answer to dreams coming true is as simple as changing your focus.  Turn your eyes to Eternity, reach out your hand, and touch the face of God.   Suddenly, miraculously, you know once and for always that you are enough.  Dreams can come true for you… and the greatest dream of all, forever, is yours.

/by
Rise and Shine: Woman with Arms Outstretched at Sunrise - Ready to Take on the Day

Rise and Shine 15: A Blessing from St. Therese

ST. THERESE

 

        She said, “May today there be peace within.  May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others.  May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you .  May you be content with yourself just the way you are.  Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.  It is there for each and every one of us.”

 

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a world that reflects St. Therese’s words.  Can you see it?  Can you see yourself living in a world that honors you as exactly who you are — a world that allows “your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love?”

Keep your eyes closed and experience this place.  As your mind embraces the beauty and wonder of a world of light and love rather than a world of darkness and hate, your body begins to experience a lightness that it can only vaguely remember.  You see yourself as the joyful child you were before the world blew holes in you and locked you in a prison of pain.    Suddenly, miraculously,  the fear of being “less than” and of enduring the excruciating pain that you believe the world inflicts on you because you are “less than” vanishes.  You are free!  The wonder of being free fills your eyes with tears of joy.

Open your eyes!   The picture of the life and the world that St. Therese paints is exactly what God intended for you all along.

Freedom or fear?   You have the God-given free will power to set yourself free.  CHOOSE!

 

/by