This week's theme - Light Your Faith
WHY?
Why must we light our own faith if we hope to bring light to the world? All the things you've heard, - You can't give water from an empty well., You have to light your candle before it can light another's., etc - they're true.
Nurturing our own faith, our own light, is vital to being our finest selves and having the biggest impact we can. It facilitates our inner peace and clarity. It fosters hope and all it's power. It cultivates a charitable heart and all it's joy. It is, quite simply, the bottom line to living our best lives.
HOW?
The question of how we light our faith is a personal one. I can only answer for me, but maybe some of what I do is what you do, too.
1) Making time for prayer at least daily - Pouring out our hearts with gratitude and concerns for things large and small changes us. Listening and watching for answers also changes us and perhaps our focus, too.
2) Studying sacred words often - There is power and wisdom far beyond our own in scripture and other sacred writings. We have but to search them.
3) Attending and serving in church - The importance of connecting with others cannot be overstated. Few things touch us in the same way as having a place and people we belong with that nourish our faith.
4) Meditating - Taking time to be still and quiet our minds centers us and can help us see ourselves and our circumstances from a greater perspective. Even a couple of minutes of shutting out the noise of the world can feed our hearts and souls in a profound way.
5) Listening to enriching music - Few things touch the soul like music can. There's a class of music that can fill our soul and light our faith in deep and penetrating ways.
6) Serving others - Noticing the needs of others and doing what we can to fill those needs deepens our faith in so many ways: by seeing needs being met, by knowing that we are of use, by broadening our perspective, perhaps altering the lens through which we see things which, in turn, helps us notice the service of others and the good in the world, and by helping us then notice how we are cared for and how our needs are met.
To paraphrase Shakespeare -
To thine own faith give light
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not help but give light
to every other man.
I truly love participating in the #LightTheWorld campaign each year. Being of service to others and exploring what I can do in my own little life to bring the light and love of Christ to others gives me a perfect foundation for looking ahead and choosing my focus for the upcoming year. I hope it does the same for you.