Sweet Surrender

photo by angela

I was 19 when I had my first baby, 20 when I married my Husband. I was fortunate to be a stay at home mom. We raised four beautiful children together. Twenty-two years later, I guess you can say, I am experiencing "empty nest syndrome." My youngest is still at home, and going to college, but she does not need me in the same way. She is becoming her own; cutting those strings. Being a daughter, sister, momma, wife, friend and grandma is all I have ever known. Now, I have to stretch out my wings, feel the air, and know that the wind has shifted. It is time for me to take a new flight. I still hold all of these roles in my life. But for the first time I am discovering things about myself. It is exciting... A little scary. It may take me a while, but when I do surrender, it has been and always will be sweet.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous.
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us- it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

~Marianne Williamson