Tag Archives: There is a Light in the World

A Small Light, A Moment of Peace

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candle

There are times when peace seems far away, when the world seems ugly, when all there appears to be is the darker side of our humanness. There are times when the Light of the Universe seems lost in the frays we create. It is not.

I sent my book today to someone who is in pain. I wrote on the inscription page that I hoped the book would bring her peace. She is a mother whose child is gone from this life. Thinking of her has drawn me away from the chaos that emanates from my television screen, which, I admit, I have been watching too much.

But I have a choice. I can turn away from darkness at any time. I can turn away, because I have been given the gift of remembrance. And this morning, it came to me in these words:

“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.”  – Richard Attenborough

There is more to this life than what is on our television screens, more to life than we can see, hear, or touch. It is peaceful, and loving, and lives in the Silence of our higher selves. It is there, always. It is in the heart of those of us who are suffering and in too much pain. I know. I found it when I was there. And the Spirit emerged.

We cannot escape the realities of this world, nor should we seek to. But they are not all there is. There are higher places, there is another reality in which our hearts and minds can dwell, even if for a little while. I believe that when we change our hearts and our energies, just a little bit, when we turn away from the chaos of our creations, we ignite a light of our own, no matter how small. For those who are suffering, like the mother who is in my heart today, like so many of my countrymen who are immersed in conflict, anger, and fear, it may flicker for a moment in their vicinity. It may not. It may just inspire a kind word to the tired clerk at the checkout counter who has stood on her feet for hours. In that moment, in the space of that small light, peace will be mine. It may also be hers, and she may extend it to the customer in back of me. He may extend it to the customer in back of him. And in back of him. There is a Great Power that lives within us, even when it appears as a small light.  All we have to do is remember that It is there.

***

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Read The Messenger: The Improbable Story of a Grieving Mother and a Spirit Guide by Helen Delaney. Find it at www.Amazon.com or www.themessenger.space.

 

 

 

There Is a Light in the World

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candle

I started this blog to let my friends know that I was about to publish a book. After some forty-two blog entries, most of which were not about my book, I’ve decided to return to it. Because it’s close to Christmas. And because I want to convey, to those who have read the book (so that they will recall), and to those who have not, what my son Eddie taught me.

***

From The Messenger: The Improbable Story of a Grieving Mother and a Spirit Guide:

Chapter 3

CHRISTMAS IS CRUEL. It comes three months after Eddie’s death. It will be here in a week. Harold (my ex-husband) calls to discuss Christmas for the girls, who will be home for the holidays.

“It should be as normal as possible,” he is saying. “We ought to have dinner here, with a tree and decorations.”
“A tree?” I scream. This is unbelievable. “A tree?” I lose it. I am crying and angry. “Are you crazy?” The pain shoots out of my voice. “There will be no more Christmases. Not in this lifetime. I can’t believe you’re thinking about decorations!” I scream at him. And I say it again: “Are you crazy?”

The thought of Christmas is like a kick in the stomach: a table with no place for Eddie. No gifts for Eddie. Christmas is a fresh, new brand of pain. God saw to that. The little glimmer of light from my encounter with Reverend Brown goes out, extinguished by decorations.
Harold starts to say something when I hear a loud crash in the hallway.
“Wait,” I say. “I heard a noise in the hallway.”
“Go look, he says, “I’ll stay on the line.”

There is nothing in the hallway. I open the coat closet. Several boxes have fallen from the shelf onto the floor. Last year’s Christmas decorations. There aren’t many boxes, just a few: a single person’s Christmas decorations. I open one box of glass ornaments, then another. Nothing is broken.
“I hear you, Eddie,” I whisper, “I hear you.”
I am shaking when I return to the phone. Harold tries to rationalize what has happened. Rumbling trucks going by on my downtown street must have shaken the boxes off the shelf, he tells me.
“Then why has nothing else fallen?” I say.
We will have a tree.

***

That was the beginning of my journey. That first Christmas was a disaster, even with the tree. But, in the years that followed, I kept stringing lights and decorating, mostly for my daughters. Eventually, I came to do it because I realized that I had to add light to my corner of the world. Things are happening these days that give rise to darkness and fear, but I will not dwell there. I used to live there, and I’m not going back. Now I have a choice. I choose to turn toward the light, and to add to it, if I can. Maybe that was what Eddie was leading me to, all those years ago.

I love this quote by Richard Attenborough. It has been associated with Mother Teresa, but I know people to whom this could easily apply.  I have seen their light and healing spirits.

“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.”

My best wishes to those who are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or the Winter Solstice.

***

Read: The Messenger: The Improbable Story of a Grieving Mother and a Spirit Guide by Helen Delaney. It is available at http://www.Amazon.com. It might be the perfect Christmas present for someone who needs a little hope.

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There is a Light in the World

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“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.” – Richard Attenborough.

***

I spent some time with my daughter Michaela last week. She was in Washington, D.C. to address the Gates Millennium Scholars, young African Americans, American Indian/Alaska Natives, Hispanic Americans, and Asian American/Pacific Islanders.

The Gates Millennium Program began because Bill and Melinda Gates had an idea. What would happen, they posited, if kids like these could go to the university of their dreams? AND WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF MONEY WAS TAKEN OFF THE TABLE? And then, they did something about it. They established the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, which is administered by the United Negro College Fund, and endowed it with a 1.6 BILLION dollar grant. Each year, there are 5,000 Gates Scholars. Michaela was speaking to the 2015 kids. She’s an award winner herself, my Michaela. Just recently, the NAACP of New York distinguished her with the Phenomenal Woman Award at the centennial celebration. The city of New York proclaimed her a “Trailblazer” and the Feminist Press honored her for her “empowerment” of women.

As she told me about the Gates Scholars, there were tears in her eyes. And in mine. ” There they were,” she said, “a ballroom full of these kids, wearing tee shirts from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and other Ivy League universities.” The scholarships will take them through graduate programs, even as far as a PhD, if they so desire. These kids came from neighborhoods and family environments  that were sad and hard, harder than we could ever imagine. Against incredible odds, they made the cut and qualified for a Gates Scholarship. They sat there, looking up at her, smiling, a brighter future in front of them than they might have wished for in their wildest dreams. Michaela said she was so overcome with emotion she could hardly speak. Sometimes hope is hard to look at directly. Like the sun.

Later, as I waited with Michaela for her train back to New York, the station began to fill with Gates Scholars, on their way back to school. She was greeted and hugged by one after the other, and, through my joyful tears, I could see that healing spirit in every smiling face. “I believe God gave Bill Gates Microsoft so that he could do this,” she said.

Amen.

***

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The Messenger: The Improbable Story of a Grieving Mother and a Spirit Guide by Helen Delaney is available at http://www.Amazon.com and at the News Center in Easton, MD.