This Little Light of Mine
I'm Gonna Let it Shine
Hello, Friend,
I hope you’re hanging in there. I’m doing my best over here. I’ve been thinking, deeply today, about what comes next for us, for me, for this publication.
What can I do to serve the world? How can I best use my talents, my intellect, my energy? I’ve looked into the abyss and seen a possible future that I hope beyond hope is not made fully manifest. We choose, though, how to move through the world, where to focus our attention and energy. We choose how to live and how to love and how to co-exist. I’ve decided to reboot and start over here moving forward. I want to fine tune the dial. I cannot sit in my sadness. Picking at a scab makes a scar.
I stopped writing when the pandemic started and I entered this weird cocoon of isolation that I mostly still inhabit due to my vulnerable lungs. I could not form written words. They would not come. They fought every tap of the keyboard.
I made videos. I painted. I gardened. I made soups and cakes and cookies, but I could not write. I amassed a pile of half finished, self indulgent, sad little unpublished essays in this Substack. They have been duly removed from my drafts.
“Your work is to discover who you are and then with all your heart give your light to the world.”
Jennifer Williamson
My words have returned. I think they’re pretty good words, for the most part. I know that words have power and it’s important to use them with care. I want to use them for the greater good. My words, my art, my videos, all of it can live here, free from the data mining, microtargeting, and relentless manipulative algorithms of social media.
I believe with all my heart that it will be our light, our broken hearted art, our unwavering hope, our relentless joy, our stalwart tenacity, our radical kindness, and our innate humanity that will lift us up and brighten the path forward.
Creativity is the opposite of destruction. It is our birthright. It is where our greatest power resides. Art will save the world, but only if we keep making it.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
I encourage you to do the same.
Let’s shine together, friend.
Love, Madge
Your words seem to describe me and my trajectory as well. I wrote a blog called A Mother’s Touch for four years for our local newspaper when my, now grown, kids were little. The words poured forth easily. I couldn’t stop them. I loved writing. And then one day it just stopped. It has been many years since that blog. And, like you, during the pandemic I turned inward, isolated myself, and became immersed in art. Creating art saved me and helped me to deal with Interstitial Cystitis, and more recently, severe eczema. I often thought about writing, but there were no words or ideas or love for it anymore. I kept creating art and tried to heal. And then this horrific election outcome tore open my heart and laid bare the truth I had never wanted to see. Love does not always win. And there is a whole lot of hate out there. I, too, am looking for a new path forward. In the pain of it all, I feel my words coming back. I am happy to have followed you on Instagram, and even happier to follow you here on Substack. I believe I will make the switch fully, too, and perhaps write again. Love and light, Margot. Thank you for your inspiration.
“Creativity is the opposite of destruction. It is our birthright. It is where our greatest power resides. Art will save the world, but only if we keep making it.”
Margot…you nailed it here. Which reminds me to continue my own creativity on top of my day job helping 7 year old humans learn and grow (I’m teaching 2nd grade these days! 💕)
Much love and light to you, my dear!