“Today we acknowledge the shadows, but we lean into the light.” This quote by Carrie Newcomer from Saturday’s Daily Good newsletter spoke to me in the aftermath of the traumatic events of January 6. Regardless of political leanings, I think her article can be relevant to many. This article spoke to me about hope and on the balance of taking action at the societal and personal levels for healing.

A Speed of Soul Encouragement – Acknowledging Grief, Claiming Love, Remembering Radiance

Carrie Newcomer, Artist/Musician, originally posted in www.DailyGood.org, January 9, 2021


In the wake of January 6th many of us are wrestling with grief, dismay, anger, racial double standard and discouragement. So today I acknowledge what is hard as stone. Lets not candy coat anything. But let us also claim that there is a stronger force, a deeper truth and a wide and active community of good hearted, decent people. Let us remind one another of all the fine and honorable people in our own lives. Let us remind ourselves of how many people got up this morning and continue to make the world a kinder place, one day, one person, three feet around them.

Yesterday I wrote my legislators, and encourage others to claim agency and let their voices be hear. But I also encourage digging into what makes your life good. Howard Thurman wrote that “hope is the remembrance of radiance, the assurance that Light will be Light, even when walking in dark places.” I am gathering to myself that remembrance of radiance, the assurance that even in the aftermath of viewing the forces of shadow close up, goodness is still goodness, Light is still Light, and hope is still here and has not been hemmed in. I wrote my legislators, but I also texted a few dear friends to tell them I care, and to express that I am grateful for their presence in my life and in the world.

My encouragement today is to claim agency and to claim love. Text, zoom, call or somehow connect with someone who you think of as a treasure in your life, someone that illuminates your life, who reminds you of the power of love and the remembrance of radiance. Reach out and affirm what keeps saving us – goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gratitude, generosity, hospitality, justice and love…always love. Lay your hand on your heart and know that you also illuminate the lives of others around you. You are also doing what you can each day, in your own way, to make the world around you a kinder place.

Today we acknowledge the shadows, but we lean into the light.

More about Carrie Newcomer HERE

Image shown is free stock from Pexels by Anas Hinde

In light of the January 6 events and the upcoming inauguration, I am sharing “A Prayer for America” that I believe can speak to most political and spiritual leanings. It is from the 1994 book, Illuminata, by Marianne Williamson.

Dear God,
We join in prayer to celebrate this nation and surrender its destiny to You.
We give thanks for the founding of this country.
We give thanks for and bless the souls of those who came before us to found this nation, to nurture and save it.
We ask that God’s spirit now fill our hearts with righteousness.
May we play our parts in the healing and the furtherance of our country.
May we be cleansed of all destructive thoughts.
May judgment of others, bigotry, racism, and intolerance be washed clean from our hearts.
May our minds be filled with the thoughts of God.
His unconditional love and His acceptance of all people.
May this nation be forgiven its transgressions against the African-American, the Native American, the nation of Vietnam, our men and women who should not have suffered or died or there, and any all others. Please bless their souls.
May we learn from our mistakes, that the people who have died from them shall not have died in vain.
May our lives be turned into instruments of resurrection, that the sins of our fathers might be reversed through us.
May the beauty and the greatness of this land burst furth once more in the hearts of its people.
May the dreams of our forefathers be realized in us, that we might live in honesty and integrity and excellence with our neighbors.
May this country once again become a light unto the nations of hope and goodness and peace and freedom.
May violence and darkness be cast out of our midst.
May hatred no longer find fertile ground in which to grow here.
May all of us feel God’s grace upon us.
Reignite, dear God, the spirit of truth in our hearts.
May our nations be given a new light, the sacred fire that once shone so bright from shore to shore.
May we be repaired.
May we be forgiven.
May our children be blessed.
May we be renewed.
Dear God, please bless America.
Amen. 

1994 from Illuminata by Marianne Williamson

Free image credit: By Harley Pebley – Flickr: Prayer for USA, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32754317