Carrying This Little Light of Mine

Flickr - Candle - nathanmac87Ida Lawrence, Contributor
Waking Times

When I was very young, my dad would persuade me to sing a song in his church called, “This Little Light of Mine.” The song was about letting your light shine and not hiding it. There were hand gestures that went along with the words. I must have made my dad smile, singing and doing my thing.

It gives me a smile too, to think what a journey it has been. Six decades later I’m sitting in meditation, working on expanding my energy and letting my light shine. It’s not easy… to take a seat in your own heart and let your light be The light – you and the divine, one and the same light.

Every great teacher of the Way will tell us that we are the light, and yet we cannot help ourselves – we give the light back. We depend upon our teachers and love them, not quite believing that we could generate the light ourselves. Our ego kicks in and we say, “No, mine could never be equivalent. I will need to look to you.”

Of course our light wouldn’t be equivalent… it is ours… our information. And yet, how beautiful is our information, generated in the seat of the heart. No other lessons are like the lessons that we have learned, no other truths are like the ones we have experienced, no other love is like the love we achieve.

Every word of wisdom, every bit of guidance, every act of kindness, every gift of love from my teachers, has been treasured. What a void appears when a teacher departs the earth… what stillness… a standstill. It takes a few days to recall that the teacher’s task was always to pass along the knowledge, shine the light of love and liberate the student.


  • If we have incorporated the lesson, we will be reminded of the assignment: you are the divine force, take what I have given you and go ahead and be… complete your assignment.

    We all go back to the infinite ocean of energy at some point, and if ‘like attracts like’ is fundamental, then it’s wise to be disciplined, dedicated, generous and kind, and as pure in heart as we can be. Let everything in life be our teacher… the dark and the light, the grief and the joy. We grew up to polish up, gain our experience, integrate our own darkness, incorporate all of the wisdom we can find, and live our life as a ‘more and more real’ human.

    Yes, there will be some treacherous turns up ahead. Like you, I do see the clouds of a great war rolling in. What karma the evil empire has brought upon itself. And yes, like you, I do see our beautiful Mother Earth being trashed. But don’t we know how tremendous her overcoming force is? If we will, we’ll find a safe place to ride it out with her… resilient, regenerative and creative.

    As we bow in gratitude to our teachers, thanking them for their information and guidance on so many levels, including the darkness and light within and without, in the end we have to become our own light and our own teacher. Scary prospect in a way, but hey I’ve been carrying this little light of mine since I was three years old and we do have to take ownership of it at some point!

    About the Author

    Ida Lawrence is an author, blogger, copywriter and editor based in Atlanta, Georgia. She has authored two books on racial justice and human rights, and numerous articles on human rights, self-empowerment and related subjects. Ida is also a certified Tai Chi instructor with a special interest in helping seniors and the disabled with Tai Chi and Chi Kung practices modified for their use. Her goal in life has been to find answers to the question of ‘why’ and then to explore the question of ‘what is’. More of her work is available at her personal blog, http://talk2momz.com/.

    This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.

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