At Christmas time, my daughter and her family were travelling home for the holidays. As they boarded their flight in Charlotte, it was overcast and dreary. My daughter was sitting next to my five-year-old granddaughter, Maggie. As the flight took off and began ascending, they finally broke through the cloud cover to a bright and sunny sky. Maggie immediately turned to her mother and asked, “Is this heaven?” Several passengers heard her and got a chuckle.

Oh, the wonder of a five-year-old. While she might not understand heaven, she knows it must be bright and beautiful. But more than that, what she really doesn’t comprehend is that the sun is always shining. Sometimes gray clouds may block our view, but the sun is always shining.

The same goes for our lives. We have the ability to be the sun on someone’s gloomy day: a smile, a word of encouragement, eye contact or a light touch, just taking the time to think of someone other than ourselves. It seems like such a small thing, but so difficult to do at times.

“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

Go ahead, make a difference, I dare you!

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