Light Bulb

LIGHT BULB

A light bulb is an electric light with a wire filament heated to such a

high temperature that it glows with visible light.

The filament is protected from oxidation with a glass bulb.

The light bulb is supplied with electric current by wires embedded in

the glass. The bulb is placed in a socket which provides mechanical

support and electrical connections

So what does a light bulb have to do with us?

What if our soul is like the wire filament heated by Gods love to

energize it so it can glow with visible light?

The filament is your essence the part of you that is your deepest truth,

the part of you where faith, hope and love live.

FAITH…What do you believe about your HP? Is what you believe coming

from hope and trust or doubt and giving up?

What do you have faith in, trust in? As we grow older the things we

have faith in sometimes change.

How strong is this faith of yours? Is it carrying you through and what

do you do to strengthen it

Is it a faith you have consciously chosen and made your own?

LOVE….It is not what you love but how you love.

What shape, form, texture does your love take?

HOPE….Believing, trusting that you will be and bring peace and

Goodness to your world.

What if our body is like the glass bulb that protects the filament from

oxidation?

The second part of the light bulb is the glass that is your body.

Some bulbs have a fine powder on the inside that diffuses the light

providing a gentle evenly distributed light.

Some bulbs are clear and the light is sharp.

And light bulbs come in all shapes and sizes.

Whatever the intensity or size, bright or dim, big or small, they all have

the same purpose….to protect the essence of light.

What are you doing to protect your light, your essence?

How are you taking care of this body that holds your soul and spirit

your light, your essence?

Think for a minute here:

If I’m carrying around a light bulb, I make sure it is wrapped and

protected. Yet I go out in the cold weather and wash dishes without

gloves.

For years I didn’t like sunglasses and didn’t wear them, now I have

permanent sun damage in my eyes

On my job, I spend my days encouraging others, but I put myself last or

put myself down.

What is the part of your physical body that you are ignoring, denying?

Mask, flu shot, exercise,

And what about the electrical current, supplied by contact wires

attached to the filament in us?

And what if the contact wires are prayer, meetings, meditation?

And then the power

There are so many ways to describe this power.

I call it grace, and I believe it is available to me all the time if I open my

mind and heart to see it.

Guided Imagery

Become what you already are…a light in this darkened world

Close your eyes and imagine you have within you, deep within your

soul…a light….a light placed there by your creator.

This is not a flame that lights your way…..The flame is your way….this

light is love, is peace, is harmony

When you live think act and feel from this place, you are like a mirror

reflecting that light on to others.

Spend a few minutes seeing this light that is the very essence of you.

You can choose to cover this light with hatful selfish thoughts… but you

can’t extinguish it. Breathe into your light your essence then slowly

exhale. And as you exhale give your essence to the world, knowing

there is always more on the next breath. Gods presence is unending

James Thurber: There are two kinds of light…the glow that illumines

and the glare that obscures.

I realize now that for years I was trying to create a glow that could

obscure the dysfunction in our home. Make it good, pretty, happy,

perfect on the outside. In dysfunctional families we sometimes put a

spotlight on success etc so that the real pain and darkness are pushed

Into the shadows and obscured.

Today my goal is to create a glow that illumines, that shines light on

everything equally….that allows the truth of a person or situation to be

seen whether I approve of or like their truth or not.

Are the lights you light obscuring or illuminating?

Who is being obscured? Who is not allowed to shine their own light

because it doesn’t fit in with the lights around it?

What are you illuminating

What if darkness is times of loss and grief, times of pain and suffering,

times of poverty and lonliness, times of addiction and illness, Times of

being shut out and forgotten times of ignorance and racism?

And what if light is times of joy, family, success, mental and physical

wellness, friends, justice, equality, generosity, caring for nature, loving

our work?

Some of us have tried to hold on to the light so much that we literally

got burned out.

The first few drinks were joy and freeing, until we blacked out drunk or

destroyed the very happiness we were trying to keep with our alcohol

induced lack of judgement.

OR our early codependence which made us and everyone around us so

happy eventually melted into the murkiness of expectations,

resentments and exhaustion.

Is there a problem in your life you are suffering through, thinking you

are alone, keeping quiet out of shame? Remember “we are only as sick

as our secrets”?

This program works because we shed light on our wrongs, our defects

of character, mistakes, etc that have been obscure by addiction, and

we turn to the divine truth to illumine the real truth of us, the loving

flame of God that is our essence.

In times of darkness how can we create balance ….where can we look

for balance….how can we be the balance this world so desperately

needs?

1 Find small things to celebrate every day. (examples)

2 Create a schedule of things that make you happy and stick to it

3 Let go of your old expectations. This is a new world we are living in

and it needs a new perspective

4 Stop denying, pretending you are OK. Ask for help and if you really

are OK give help to someone who isn’t. This is not a time to be self

reliant and perfect. It is a time to open ourselves to the vastness of

Gods unconditional love, Remember steps 1,2,3?

Acronym. VAST

Vulnerability.

It is ok to be hurting. It is ok to be scared. It is ok to not know.

It is ok to be open to God’s presence in ourselves and in others

Acceptance

Means acknowledging and embracing truth especially when we are in

circumstances we cant control…… God’s truth. And it means

acknowledging the need for God’s help.

Surrender

Means letting go of the expectations, plans, and resulting frustrations

when they are not being met and placing them in the hands of God

Trust

Is the foundation of the first three. It is step three.

1…Celebrating small things each day

2…Scheduling happiness

3…letting go of expectations

4…Ask for help

Pretty simple things and we have all heard them before. This time lets

really listen…There are vast problems in our world today that we can’t

immediately solve. But we can do these simple things

Connection…Each time you reach out to another person, whether it is a

small favor you just happened on or a large action you feel compelled

effects for you, for others and for the earth.

The Talmud tells us all men are responsible for each other.

Jesus tell us that which you do to the least of my brethren you do unto

me.

Classic mysticism teaches that the process of enlightenment unfolds for

each of us on a path we walk alone, but on that path, everyone we

meet matters in our story.

Leonard cohen wrote…

Ring the bells that still can ring……...forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

Maybe the times we are living in seems dark and cracked.

Will you bring your light to this darkness

Will you let others bring you there light when you feel dark and empty?

Read the story “The power of light” by Isaac Singer.

What courage might your flickering candle kindle?

What life path might be illuminated in its reflection?

We turn lights on every day? Do they show you what is wrong or what

you can do?

Is there a light you need to turn on?

Maybe so you can see better or

Maybe because your light will guide someone else’s way.

Prem Rawat said “when it starts to get dark, we light a lamp. That’s not

rocket science, is it? But you’ve got to know where the lamp is and how

to light it before it gets completely dark”

Where is your lamp?

What is the source that lights it? (light switch, google home. Etc)

The one lamp we need to have and rely on has always been the one

inside us. That special unique place in our center that makes us who we

are.

But as with any other form of light, to use that light we need to fuel it.

What fuels your inner light?

For some of us it is hope that keeps our inner light burning. Hope

supports us in trouble, strengthens us so we can continue to live

despite discouragement and failure.

What are you hoping for?

Do you share that hope with others? (they might be thinking it’s silly)

And you might give them validation.

For some of us it’s faith, the belief that there is something bigger

something more loving that can inspire us and support us to be all that

we sometimes forget we are.

For some of us it’s compassion…a deep sense of connection with and

for others who are also struggling. Every day there are inspiring stories

and pictures of people filling other peoples cars with food…..Where is

compassion fueling your light?

For some of it’s courage, the ability to face the most frightening things

For some of us it’s service, giving of ourselves and our talents

The lamp inside me is my love for my children and my first allegiance

will always be to my children. And though there are so many things and

places calling me, the strength of that love inside me will always be my

“Home”

Now sometimes I am made painfully aware of my failings…and

sometimes I lose confidence in myself as a capable parent…and

sometimes my expectations of myself and them are downright

dysfunctional, and sometimes my fear paralyzes me.

But those are the “outside” things. Inside, under all the layers of living

and mothering, remains my deep love for them. That is the fuel in my

lamp

However just knowing where my lamp is, and checking on the fuel isn’t

enough. I need to also know where to turn when I can’t find my way

through this thing called life.

Martin L King said “darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can

do that……Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that”

As people in recovery, sober, clean, serene, abstinent, …..we are aware

that the things of darkness we used Alc, drugs, food, gamb, internet,

sex , to avoid feeling our painful, uncomfortable and scary feelings

could not permanently or safely drive out those feelings, because

darkness cannot drive out darkness.

We have learned the hard way that our sobriety, serenity, abstinence,

honesty, faith, surrender and trust are the only light that can drive out

the darkness of our addictions and dysfunction. And we have learned

that the unconditional love and grace of God HP is what supported us

as we struggled in the past and still struggle today.

Our world today is experiencing an unprecedented time of darkness.

With all this darkness all around it is so important for us to remember

our light.

The second part of the quote is “Hate cannot drive out hate…only love

can do that.”

Where is hate still holding on in your life?

Are you living in an environment filled with hate?

Are the people around you filled with hate?

Are you consciously choosing to hate someone or something?

Who what or maybe yourself are you hating?

When I wrote these questions, it made me think, rather uncomfortably,

about the presence of hate in my life.

I had to admit that some of the things I say I hate, I just talk negatively

about, or avoid, or judge ……but I don’t drive out the hatred that way, it

actually just grows silently deeper in my mind and heart

SO IF

Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that……How do I use love

to deal with the people and things I have rather intense dislike for?

Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

Could I love when I see and hear racist, xenophobic, sexist things

instead of sink into my own hatred?

Could I pray for the person saying those things?

What if when I hear words of hate, I speak words of love?

What if when I see acts of hatred, I do an act of love?

The world does not need me adding my own forms of hate it needs me

to bring my own brand of love and then I am doing my part no matter

how small to bring some balance into this world, Whether it is the

wider world or my own family.

I am not a victim of what is happening. I am the light of God, the peace

of God, I can choose …not crumble.

I realized I was always saying I hate this aging process. But in reality

hating it seem more visible and objectionable to myself.

What if I could love this aging process

See the acquired wisdom instead of just the memory loss

Treat this body as gently and accepting as I treat my grandkids

“an empty lantern ,provides no light. What if self love and self care

are the fuels that allow my light to shine brightly rather than self hatred

draining out my light?

Chinese proverb : If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the

person…If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the

house. If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the

nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.

Those of you who are in alanon remember the closing ceremony on

serenity retreats? I wish you love and light. Ah. LOVE AND LIGHT.

Driving out hate and darkness….. LOVE AND LIGHT.

One evening a man took a small candle from a box and began to climb a

long winding stairway. Where are we going asked the candle? We are

going up higher than the house, to show the distant ships the way to

the harbor.

But no ships in the harbor ,no less the distant sea, could ever sees my

small light, said the candle.

Your light might be small, but just keep on burning bright and leave the

rest to me.

When they reached the top of the long stairs, They came to a large unlit

lamp. The man took the little candle and with it lit the large lamp.

Behind the lamp were large polished mirrors, and as the little candles

flame took hold in the lamp, the polished mirrors behind the lamp sent

beams of light out across the miles of sea.

When the sun is shining, a little candle seems insignificant. But in the

thick darkness of night, even the little candle becomes important as it

helps the mirrors dispel the darkness.

Like the candle, each of us has our little role to play in this life here on

earth. When we keep our small internal love alive, when we do our

daily tasks with love, when we seek the support of others because we

are feeling discouraged, we through our love can drive out darkness.

Do you value this little flame that is yours? This little life that is yours?

Are you willing to pass your small light on to others who can magnify it?

Or are you trying to do it all alone?

Who are the mirrors surrounding you, reflecting your light?

…..The faces of people in the rooms as you share

…..The people in store you give a genuine smile to

…..The person you offer some help to

Are you trying to reflect light with old familiar mirrors that are dull and

dusty?

In the story, the man says. If your light is small just keep on burning

bright and leave the rest to me

When God says this to you, can you relax and believe him?

Will you stop doubting yourself?

Will you stop struggling to prove your worth?

Rumi says. “ when in the middle of the deepest darkest night, when we

feel most humbled by life, when we have found the limits of what we

can and cannot do, only then will it begin to dawn on us the

limitlessness of what God can do”

We live today in a new reality and it is not one we like.

Can we find God in all things?

We live in fear of disease and dying, economic ruin and social unrest

war and climate change.

And yet every day we live is a gift. And considering the state of the

world recently, It’s a miracle that we exist at all! We have been held in

the loving arms of the divine and as a result of that we might want to

ask ourselves Mary Olivers question

“What will you do with your one wild and precious life?”

Let your light shine!coming December