Feel the Glow within You

Feel the glow within you.

That small center or warmth.

Close your eyes and slow your breathing.

Focus gently on where you feel the core of your being is,

the soul center,

the place where you do more than think or feel.

The place where you are aware, 

aware of yourself,

and aware of all your memories stretching back to childhood and beyond.

You are more than alive.

You are life - glowing, warm, forever. 

-Steven Charleston, Retired Episcopal bishop and Choctaw citizen. 

 

I found this meditation by Steven Charleston recently and I instantly connected to it. The words feel so warm and peaceful and calm - which is what this time of year feels like it should be. And I think it is partly those things. We are in a season of waiting. But it is also a season of preparing which often is not calm and soul centered. The pressures on adults during this time of year can be rough. 

The line that really stood out to me when I saw this was ‘memories stretching back to childhood and beyond’. I began to think about the magic of childhood Christmas. The feeling of wonder and joy and possibility. The unshakable belief that amazing, wondrous, unbelievable things are possible. 

The wonder of childhood belief and trust brings to mind the Bible verse ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 18: 3) It is often easy as an adult to forget how to be childlike, full of wonder and love and welcome. Many adults feel pressured to see the world through the eyes of what they were taught, and now believe, an adult should be. I feel this guidance from the Bible is reminding us that all of the adult rushing and achieving and keeping up and checking off is fine- as long as we still try to make the compassionate, understanding and empathetic nature we all so readily had when we were little our main focus. 

I hope you are able to take some time this season to feel where you are glowing inside. Take time to remember what gives you joy and peace and do more of it. Give yourself permission to fully know and embrace the truth - that you are a child of God. You are wonderful, amazing and perfect from the inside out. Not from the outside in. Your glow, your spirit, your childlike joy is amazing. As Charlston’s meditation says ‘You are life’. It’s not what you do that God loves. God loves you.