inner light, inner grace

I don't usually attend much to mass emailings (jokes, etc), but the sentiment behind this one was especially lovely:

Albert Schweitzer said so well, "Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light." Who rekindles your light? Who blows your light into flame
when it threatens to flicker out? ... If you need the light of your spirit rekindled during a bleak time, there are those who will listen and care. Likewise, a great and wonderful gift you can give is to fan into flame the spirit that is in another. Rekindling someone's flame is ... important ..., for few of us can go it all alone. The greatest weapon against darkness is, and always has been light.

So this has been an ongoing source of conversation for Robert and me. I always appreciated our yoga teacher because of his unending ability to see the light in everyone, something I aspire to but often fall short of. (Don't you just see darkness in some people? I'll admit that I do. I keep working at it though.)

We (R and I) were conversing about spirituality with a minister years ago (social situation), when all of a sudden she stepped back in a bit of shock and said "You mean, you think everyone has a little grace machine inside of them?" "Yes, I replied, don't you?" And it turned out, it was Robert's turn to be shocked. I guess those devout Presbyterians amongst whom he was raised think that grace happens outside of the self, not inside. My little grace machine is almost a physical entity. I know where it sits. And yeah, its little motor threatens to give out every now and then, but it always starts back up again.

So yes, that little light burns brightly most of the time. But my family (the one I've created, which sometimes includes my out-of-the-box original family) makes a difference when the light threatens to go out. Some members of the family know who they are. Others have no clue or little clue, and that's fine. You often don't know whose life you've touched or how or why. You just have to trust that it happens all the time, more often than you realize. And doesn't just knowing or even sensing that you've made a difference serve to keep your own little light burning brighter?

Written in deepest gratitude.