despair?

[Connie Miller]

This is very beautiful and thank you for sending this out. Blessings Connie

-----Original Message-----
From: drjb at mindspring.com [mailto:drjb at mindspring.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2007 10:20 PM
To: 'grouptalk'
Subject: despair?

A friend sent this; I thought it worth passing along - Blessings.



"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching
out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. One of the most calming
and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and
show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul
throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires." 
-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes


Dear friends,

The short, penetrating essay below is perfect for these tumultuous times. Not only
does it poetically encourage us not to lose hope, these wise words call on us to
let our light shine bright, knowing that every little act we take for the good of
all of us makes a difference. Enjoy this beautiful message filled with hope and 
inspiration.

Let Your Light Shine Bright
By Clarissa Pinkola Estes

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so
many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the
state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and
often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized,
visionary people. 

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while
endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the
unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, 
to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially
do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these
times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and
just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding
awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there
are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal
one another as never before in the history of humankind. Look out over the prow;
there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though
your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the
long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained
lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance,
regardless. 

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong
or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall
into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet
be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails. We 
are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will
meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when
they appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged
to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember
that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out
to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that
one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering
world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom,
will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for 
dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing.
We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but 
only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or
hundredth gale. 

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy
world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times.
The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes
proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like
these—to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery
and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully
lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of
the strongest things you can do. 

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many
times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It 
is not allowed to eat from my plate. The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I
know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember 
why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say
and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who
brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a
great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that 
is not what great ships are built for.


Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D
Author of the best seller Women Who Run with the Wolves



Warmly, Jeanne

Warmly, Jeanne

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