I seem to have had some difficulty with choosing titles lately…but as I was taking my walk this morning I was listening (on my Ipod) to a favourite speaker of mine. He was talking about living life fully….not being wishy washy or luke warm. It was a very inspirational talk and I got a lot from it. A phrase that came out of it was that we, as children of God have ‘permission to flourish’, to be colourful…to add colour and flavour to life.

I was reminded of a speech (well, part of it) that Nelson Mandella once gave, quoting Marianne Williamson:

“Lest we forget.”

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 and fabulous?
Actually, who are you NOT to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking,
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
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.
Nelson Mandella

A few comments have been made about this image…very helpful ones too. Thank you to everyone who was kind enough to leave them. Some words that leapt out to me from them were…Nurturing, covering & protection…..My dear friend Brian queried the lines and boxes that I added at the bottom of this image…and I understand what he’s saying….but the human brain is a fascinating thing…and I realise now that I probably was adding something to the image to stabilise it…. YET, NO!….sometimes it’s way too easy for me/us to live ‘within the box’ I/we create for ourselves….keeping within the comfort zone so to speak. The contrast between being trapped in the daily grind and being free to flourish and grow is huge.
May you escape the confines of life and flourish and grow more each day :-)
Blessings to you all.