Time to Shine

How long will I be silent?
How long will I turn a blind eye to injustice?

If I do nothing at all, that's exactly what will happen.

Nothing.

I have been closed up and turned off for far too long. I have succumbed to the roaring of the wind and the icy grip of the dark. The voice I am letting control me, the voice telling me which step to take...

Actually, it is mine.

My own misshapen voice.

Were I to be inhabiting a perfect world, a bright world, one full of truth--my voice would not be so misled.

But there is dark surrounding these stiff shoulders of mine, and I have allowed such darkness to infiltrate my decisions and to stifle my ambition.

Were I to be inhabiting a perfect world, I would be perfect.

But I do not.

So I am not.

This is no excuse, however, no matter its undeniable weight. The trick of this life is to learn how to shine boldly and brightly despite the darkness, not cower because of it.

And so I pose these two hefty questions:

How long will I stay silent?
How long will I turn a blind eye to injustice?

This is no time to shrink away from the night--in fact, this is the very time to rise up against it. To bring out all that is in me, all that is true and pure and good, and let it shine so brilliantly that the dark is forced to recede.

This is the time to stand up and stand strong, to band together with all who still shine, and to march boldly into that unending night--to fight it and denounce it and to rescue its captives--until the thickest fog has completely disappeared and all that is left is the glorious Son: shining, shining in the blue sky of true freedom.

This is the time to scrutinize the past for its highs and its lows; to scrub the present from top to bottom; and to make for the future a path of pure hope. This is the time to realize where we've gone wrong and then to put into action a battle plan to correct and make clean. This is the time to open our eyes and plant our feet.

This is the time to start shining again--no matter the pressure, no matter the price.

Time to shine. 🍂