Light

I'm back in San Diego... and what a day this has been! I left Jacksonville at 6:00AM, and landed in California at 9:30. Becca picked me up and brought me to Miramar, then I went to church in the big room. We sang a song there that I love, called "How Can I Keep from Singing," which I've known since middle school, but was new to First Church, apparently. It's a good song.

Then I came back and took a nap, which was wonderful. I only slept for two or three hours last night (argh, laundry!), and then on the plane for a few hours. I was bushed. And I had dinner plans with Mr. Smyth's brother and family.

That was fun. They're all nerds, too, so I fit right in. It's a terrible rotten shame--and all my fault--that I didn't call them last year when I first got their phone number.

Lasagna story:

My mom let me bring the extra lasagna from Thursday back to San Diego. I couldn't pack it in anything because it wasn't really sealed well, so I just had it in my hands. The first person to comment was in the check-in line behind me. He wondered if it would get past security. I said I didn't know why not... After all, it was neither liquid nor dangerous. And it wasn't as if there was a knife hidden in the middle or anything.

The second comment was from the X-ray tech in security. He ran all my stuff through, then he ran it back, then he ran it through again. He looked at me and said, "Now I know for sure that this isn't allowed." He called another TSA guy over, said something about the chick with the lasagna, and let me have my stuff. I knew he was joking, but man, I would have had a serious temper tantrum if they hadn't let it through.

All the flight attendants had some thing to say about it, too: "Oh look, she brought lunch!" "Can we heat that up and serve it?" I told the I'd beat them off it. Don't mess with Lea's food!

The girls (actually, the young adult women) at Northside started a Sunday night book discussion group on Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. I went last week, and enjoyed the conversation and insight. I obviously wasn't able to go today, but Shannon and Holly both said that it was powerful and insightful again.

Last week I alluded to a poem by Marianne Williamson that is so appropriate to the book's message... We're beautiful and wonderful, because we are children and the creation of God. Wouldn't life be so much better if we could remember that every day and then live it?

Here's the poem.

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's 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're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.


--Marianne Williamson
in A Return to Love