This morning I felt so small and insignificant. How can I possibly make a difference in the face of such darkness? And then I saw a shooting star, which got me wondering how far away that brilliant light was. Most meteors range in size from grains of sand to very small pebbles – less than a gram or two in weight. And they light the sky from somewhere around 50 to 75 miles up in the atmosphere. That description would make them seem pretty small and insignificant, and yet they have the capacity to fill me with awe and wonder. I can only be who I am and do what I can do, and perhaps that is enough. In a piece I wrote earlier this morning I said, “It seems like everything I’ve been saying and doing (stay positive, look for beauty, trust the Universe, be grateful) is just so much bullshit.” But I’m beginning to see that was simply despair giving voice to what I was feeling in that moment. It was truth, but it was not Truth. The world I woke up in this morning is, in fact, the same world I went to bed in last night. The difference is that the light has been turned on. Now I (we) have to face what we see. So perhaps what I am called to do now is the same thing I felt called to do yesterday. I am still called to show up and be myself, to let my light shine, to share beauty, to share love, to share awe and wonder and delight. Not in a naive way that seeks to deny and ignore the realities around me, but to proclaim the Truth that the darkness of this moment (or of any moment) is not the final word. There is more – so very much more! I am called to be the biggest, brightest, fullest, deepest, richest version of myself that I can manage. And each of us is called to do the same – each in our own unique ways. The specifics will come clear as we begin to let our Lights shine. For now, perhaps, it is enough to begin. What I wrote earlier this morning is still true. I am still feeling lost and discouraged and adrift. But slowly I am also beginning to remember that there is more to the story than darkness and despair. And small and insignificant though I might feel in any given moment, I still have a part to play in the unfolding of the Story. Together let us Light up the sky!