You Are the Light of the World

You are the light of the world.

I see you looking around, eyes wide and quizzical, eyebrows raised, finger pointing at chest.

“Who…me?”

Yes.

You.

You are the light of the world.

“No, no. No, not me. Let me just tell you all the bad things I’ve done. Let me tell you all the ways I’ve f***ed up, the people I’ve hurt, the times I’ve been hypocritical, downright mean and nasty, the times I yelled at my kids, my partner, my parents, my friends, my co-workers, my neighbor, the customer service guy, the cashier, myself. The times I’ve lied and cheated, and the times I’ve rested in my own comfort while others suffered.”

You are the light of the world.

“I’m sorry, but the more you say that the louder the NOOOOOOOO becomes. This is getting a little ridiculous. I thought you knew me. I now know you don’t.”

You are the light of the world.

“Please stop.”

You are perfect. Perfectly imperfect. Broken and whole. Light and shadow.

“Those are opposites.”

Sometimes the opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuh.”

*

*

*

*

You are the light of the world.

*

You are light.

*

You hold darkness, but you are not darkness.

“I…am…not…darkness.”

You hold pain, but you are not pain.

“I am…not…pain.”

You hold grief and doubt and fear and anger, but you are not grief or doubt or fear or anger.

“I am not grief or doubt or fear or anger.”

You are the light of the word.

“I am the… I can’t. How can I be the light of the world when I feel so ordinary?”

You are ordinary.

And you are the light of the world.

Extraordinarily ordinary.

Ordinarily extraordinary.

Your light shines just like the light of every other being.

It shines with its own particular luminescence.

Your light shines in its own particular way.

You are doing your own particular work.

“Well, that feels true. I don’t always like my work, though.”

You don’t have to.

Even though you have hard days and

even though you cover your light or someone else tries to obscure it,

You are the light of the world.

“Hmmmmm….”

*

You are the light of the world.

Will you try,

just try,

to believe it,

and see what happens?