This Little Light of Mine…I’m Gonna Let It Shine.

This Little Light of Mine I’m gonna let it shine/ Everywhere I go I’m gonna let it shine/Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine…

Dear Friends:

When I was growing up my mother always sang that song to me. Moreover, it was a staple during my evangelical upbringing. As a devout Christian the song–at that point in my life–always represented the light of Jesus Christ’s love inside the hearts of “true believers. However, in my spiritual evolution, it has come to mean something completely different…

To me the song signifies any and everything unique, special, and significant about you that enables you to, at the risk of sounding cliche’, make the world a better place. Your “light” is that wonderful part of you that shines out like a beacon…whether it be your personality, your talent, or just an overall energy that you give off that is noticeable to everyone else. It is that thing that some may admire or even envy.

I can speak for myself when I say that, at onetime in my life, I’ve had people that made it their goal to extinguish my little light. Sadly some of them succeeded. Whether it was people in high school bullying and harassing me; or the emotional and physical abuse that I endured at the hands of my siblings; or the self esteem complex I sustained due to the homophobia of my former church. Because of that the little light inside of me went dark. I journeyed through the world as a fraudulent person. Yes, I may have appeared “happy” and healthy on the outside. However, just beneath the surface, I was dead. There was no life inside of me. I was alive but I wasn’t living. I wasn’t my best authentic self.

Yet, now, years later my flame has been rekindled. Finally, I’ve discovered and embraced everything that is special and unique about me. For the first time I realize that my life is about me. In order to love, embrace, and cherish other people I first needed to accomplish those goals in accordance with myself. For so many years I was angry, afraid, and lonely. Therefore, I couldn’t possibly offer love to anyone else. But it was one day, in spite of it all, that I made the choice to flourish and be my BEST self…It was difficult and even frightening. But in the end it was worth it to do so…Now I can let the world see my light. I finally came up out of the dark.

What I want you to know today is that no matter what people may say or do you’ll ALWAYS have that special something that makes you different and special. No one can ever take that away. There will always be miserable and ignorant people that will TRY. But it is up to you to thwart their efforts.

You don’t have to let them have it. Your light is your’s.

I will happily share some of my light with someone else. However, they can’t have it. For it belongs to me. It is mine by right. I fought for it. And no one will ever take it without my permission.

So, get your shine on super stars! ::smile::

With Love…

Sincerely,

Toddy English!