So here I am at Starbucks, which, again, is nothing unusual. But it’s Starbucks inside Chapters…okay, again nothing particularly out of the ordinary. How about that it’s the Chapters at the corner of Richmond and John in Toronto? Okay, nothing…so get on with it Mark! Okay, how about this…Justin Trudeau just walked by. And if you don’t know who Justin Trudeau is, either you’re just not into Canadian politics, or you’re cooler than me – most likely both.
But regardless of who you are…psst…You Are Wonderful.
Really. It’s true. I’m sorry if you’ve tried really hard not to be, or if everything you’ve ever come to believe about yourself is to the contrary. But right there, right where you are – not who you were a few years ago, not who you might be when you graduate or find a better job or a mate – right there, right now, you are wonderful. You are a jewel that is waiting to be discovered, if it hasn’t been already.
Inside of you there is a soul like no other that has ever existed. Ever. You are valuable, no matter what you have heard, no matter what life has thrown on you.
And there may very well be a lot that has been thrown your way, much that you’ve been told. You’ve heard it from parents, you’ve heard it from school-mates. Maybe you’ve heard it from clergy, or from the television. Maybe you’ve heard it from the mirror. And you’ve listened to it for far too long. But now life is calling you.
You are called to wake up from a very long sleep, to wake up to life, to wake up to yourself.
This isn’t something new that is being brought to you; this is something that you have forgotten. It has always been there. If you are touched or moved by this at all, if you find yourself nodding your head, there is a reason. The reason is not that someone has presented you with a gift, but because life has now come along and helped you to start pulling off all the dingy wrapping paper that has, throughout your life, been confining you.
You are a unique soul that has much to give – or more accurately, has much to be. When you deny yourself, you put yourself through misery and you deny the world of something that no one else – anywhere – is capable of giving.
Two songs that I like at the moment are “Something About The Way You Look Tonight” and “From This Moment On.” Others can copy these songs, but they will never be the same as Elton John and Shania Twain’s versions. People can try to copy Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but they will never be exactly the same. The effort it took, the place in which it was painted, the moment in history when it was created.
You have a song that no one else who has ever lived can sing. And it is a smash hit. You are a work of art, right here, right now, which no one else can copy. And it is magnificent. You are magnificent.
Pausing for a moment, perhaps I should have used a different analogy. “You are a napkin” comes to mind, seeing as how I just spilled some of my grandé Café Verona onto my shirt. “You are a napkin with fibers like no other napkin.” Okay, okay, enough of that.
But I firmly believe this will all my heart, and I hope you and I can start realizing this and celebrating it. For too long you have tried to get away from yourself, because you bought into the lie or you were tricked into believing that you must become something or someone else. But now you are called by life to stop. To stop thinking that you are needy. To stop reaching out to be something or someone else. To look inside and see the wonderful being that you are, and to move forward from that point, from that place.
The most important journey that you can take is the one within yourself, not to some other destination. And there, right there waiting, underneath everything that has been placed on you or that you’ve placed onto yourself, is someone unique. Right there is someone wonderful.
Take the first step by standing still. Be still and know.
