Quotable Quotes

Sometimes I like to flatter myself into thinking that each and every blog post I write is 100% though-provoking, life-changing, earth-shattering brilliance. (Well... maybe more like 90%. Everyone has an off day.) Fortunately, however, I have several live-in humility inducers (ages are 10, 6, and almost 4) who remind me on a daily basis that I may not be quite as witty and intelligent as I sometimes fancy myself to be. After all, having to be told for the umpteenth time which person likes mayo, who owns the Cinderella panties, and how to turn on the video game machine tends to highlight my cognitive failings as quickly as any graduate school entrance exam ever could. To their credit, my children do boost my ego when it comes to my snuggling, cooking, and owie-kissing skills. You know - the really important stuff.

At any rate,  I do really enjoy sharing my world with y'all, but once in a while it's nice to invite in a 'guest writer,' so to speak. I mean, why struggle to make up something pithy and witty when I can just borrow what someone else has said (with due credit included, of course)? So, here is my quotable quote for you today.

This one always strikes right at the core of who I am. It makes the light inside of me burn brighter. Glow hotter. Get bigger. When I read it, the nebulous, tattered robe of excuses and fear falls away and I am tempted to go! do! be! with a new vigor and urgency. I hope it does the same for you. For, like Ms. Williamson said - you were designed to be something wonderful. Now go out and live it!

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