Inspiration: Our deepest fear

For the past year I've had a quote from Marianne Williamson taped to my bathroom mirror.  I first heard this quote at my Stake's RS Women's conference.  I loved it the minute I heard it, but I forgot who said it.  I came home and told Brandon about it.  He immediately pulled out his mission quote book and found the same quote in there.  Then a few weeks later it was printed in the branch RS newsletter.  I knew it had to be the quote for this year.  Here it is:

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, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. 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're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

This past year has been an interesting one for me.  I've done a lot of "hard things," and I think I've succeeded at many of them.  And as I've done these things, and blogged about doing them, I've worried.  Worried that I'm making some of you feel bad, because you haven't done these things.  I worry that you read my blog or see me and want to punch me in the face because I'm succeeding at something you aren't.

But when I have that worry I see this quote.  And I think that maybe I'm helping some of you feel like you can do hard things too.  I'm trying to let my light shine.  I'm trying to be liberated from my fear.  And I'm trying to help liberate you.

PS: This has been the hardest post to write EVER!  I've been evaluating every word and phrase to make sure it doesn't sound arrogant. Paragraphs have been rearranged like crazy.  Half of it has been deleted.  Sorry, if it still sounds arrogant.

PSS: I love reading your blogs, facebook updates, and seeing you in person.  The things that you do give me encouragement.  Please keep them coming.

PSSS: If you want to punch me in the face you might feel better if I tell you that this morning Brandon and I took 3 babies to our regional stake conference broadcast.  It was 2 hours that took every trick in the book to survive.  I'm so glad we weren't sitting by anyone we knew.