For a recent family movie night, we watched Akeelah and the Bee, a fabulous movie about an eleven year old girl with a gift and love for spelling. At first, she doesn’t want to acknowledge her gift. There are too many other things going on in her life. Her mother is supporting the family after the death of her father and her brother is in a gang. But as she learns to honor her gift, she finds love and support she didn’t know she had.I was struck by a quote in the movie. This quote has been attributed to both Nelson Mandela and Marianne Williamson, but I have never heard the whole thing before. It goes like this:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous. Actually, who are you not to be? We were born to make manifest the glory of God that’s within us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

What would happen if we made manifest the glory of God within us? Would that glory rub off on other people? Would we live in peace and harmony with those who looked differently or believed differently? Would we care about our environment and stop global warming? Would we cherish all life? I believe embracing our power and the God within us would change everything. It would change the world. And then what a wonderful place it would be.