You know, everybody has setbacks in their life, and everybody falls short of whatever goals they might set for themselves. That’s part of living and coming to terms with who you are as a person. 

HILLARY CLINTON

Is it November yet? Ha! I had every intention to participate in ‘blog like crazy’, this year, (thanks to Javacia Harris of See Jane Write), but as in the quote above, I recently faced a setback that dwindled my goal! My plan was to finally publish my blog, (two years later), and work towards it every single day of November as the challenge demands. Well, I have finally come to terms with the reality of who I am, it’s still the last day of November and my blog is finally up! Yay! Until the recent past, this would have been just one more excuse for me to further procrastinate, but that ship has long sailed!  

Embracing life is an art of grace! 

The following is an edited version of my first litmus concept from my Facebook page in 2016 and it couldn’t have been re-birthed at a better time! I find that am still able to clearly see, even in immense darkness! Know who you are and the value of what you deeply possess!  Because of God’s love, we are not consumed! 

When I first posted similar photos to these as my profile pictures on Facebook, they got tons of likes, including mine! I suppose there are many reasons about the photos that may have attracted the likes, for example, the beautiful blend of the yellow and blue African kitenge outfit, very neatly put together by my designer aunt Analisha Wangui, (from a beautiful town called Kutus in Central Kenya), the little black dress by Theory (which I at times wear as a tank depending on the occasion, in this case; Church flow), or perhaps the white pair of The Stilt cigarette jeans by AG, etc.

I could redundantly go on about this already fully painted picture, (for the love of fashion), but let me share about my favorite reason and one of the many things these pictures have in common; black background! It simply makes the color of the images pop! Just look up at the constellations on a dark quiet night, or stand on a cliff overlooking any metropolitan city in the dark of the night and get the bigger picture. John ‭1:5‬ ‭talks about light shining in darkness and the darkness not being able to comprehend it. The Son of God, the light of the world, has freely been revealed to us by God our Father, yet we at times can’t seem to resist the blindfold!

In an article I recently read by Scott R. Kline, these words by Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Jung, blew my mind. ‘One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.’  Every time I want to catch a glimpse of the darkness that surrounds the world today, I just tune into; Charter (now Spectrum) cable CNN’s news channel 37 or if I want to make it a bit more private, then I take a simple walk down memory lane, into some of my life’s experiences. That’s the proof of how deeply Jung’s words resonate. It’s all a roller coaster of buried mixed emotions that ought to be confronted in order to fulfill life’s purpose. It’s not the darkness I really search for you see, it’s the presence of the already shining light!

I don’t know what kind of a hand this world has dealt you, but may it boost your ego just by being aware of the power you possess as a shining light in every dark situation, previously, currently or yet to be encountered. The enemy of our soul knows his way around and surely pounces at the very first sign of a loophole! 1 Peter ‭5:8‬ ‭asks us to be sober and vigilant; because our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He doesn’t have to get either of us.  In the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland, Marcus Luttrell, a former United States Navy SEAL, in his speech asked, ‘Who among you is gonna step up and take the fight to the enemy, because it’s here?’ It’s a fight not against flesh and blood, but principalities and vigorous powers and rulers, that require us to put on the armor of God as per Ephesians 6:13 and then stay grounded to withstand the enemy because sooner or later, we will all inevitably slip into a deeper darkness and eventually awaken into an everlasting glorious light!

Just as young Samuel stood as a glimmer of hope during a dark period in Israel, let every dark situation in your life, appropriate the light within you!

Shine!

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 NIV

#inspiringyourlighttoshine