This initiative began unobtrusively on Saturday, August 7, 2010 near the tiny town of Matfield Green, Kansas when a woman named Carla from Kalamazoo, Michigan INSPIRED me.
Our paths crossed at a monthly volunteer work day for Pioneer Bluffs, a small non-profit organization. Carla came with one of our regular volunteers and pitched in cheerfully on a very hot and steamy day, first in our CSA garden and later on a project in the barn.
What I couldn't help noticing about Carla was the quality of her patience, kindness and avid presence, hallmarks that quietly called attention to themselves simply by being so unmistakably genuine. It wasn't that she DID anything especially remarkable, but that she WAS an outstanding example of love personified.
By the end of the work day I realized I could not comfortably let this opportunity pass. I found Carla and thanked her for being so FULL of LOVE. I told her that she had INSPIRED me to go home and make some thank you cards to hand out in the future to other persons whose loving and light-filled ways caught my attention.
There's nothing new about these qualities, but today we need to affirm and cultivate them more than ever. Recognizing integrity in others is a way of seeing our own love and light reflected back to us, an acknowledgment of our interconnectedness. When we take the time to concretely affirm others for choosing love, the light rebounds and is magnified.
Republic
of Grass
The LET THERE BE MORE LIGHT Initiative
in·spire
v. in·spired, in·spir·ing, in·spires
v.tr.
1. To affect, guide, or arouse by divine influence.
2. To fill with enlivening or exalting emotion.
3.
a. To stimulate to action; motivate.
b. To affect or touch.
4. To draw forth; elicit or arouse.
5. To be the cause or source of; bring about.
6. To draw in (air) by inhaling.
7. Archaic
a. To breathe on.
b. To breathe life into.
v.intr.
1. To stimulate energies, ideals, or reverence.
2. To inhale.
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JOIN THE INITIATIVE by downloading a free PDF that will allow you to print out your own cards on most 3.5 X 2-inch do-it-yourself business card stock (or print out on card stock and cut them yourself) or download a single card as a JPEG image file you can attach to an email (right click to "save as" or "copy"). BE CREATIVE!
Be ready next time someone inspires you
LET THERE BE MORE LIGHT!
Do you have an inspiring story to share about how you put the Initiative into action, or a Light & Love Hero you'd like to recognize?
©2010 Republic of Grass
Permission is required to use any text, photography or image from this website.
The lifeline, that golden rope, is to know that there is such a thing as love, and in that moment you are empowered to choose it. Just that. Even if your heart is breaking and you feel on the edge of collapse, say, “I CHOOSE LOVE.”
In your willing-ness to go against all reason, all defenses, all habits, all patterns, all superstitions, and many teachings to say, "I WILL LOVE," you walk in the Light.
-Pat Rodegast
This is a locally-grown, homemade, tallgrass-roots effort inspired by one person and put into action by another. How far can it go? That depends on you!
