Be that shining star

I need to be that shining star for someone else rather than showcase what someone else has been for me.

2021 Light the World Calendar
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The Light the World with Love campaign goes ever forward.  The suggested action for today reads, “Dedicate the star on your tree to someone who was a light in your life this year. Take a picture and post it on social media along with a message about how that person has influenced you.”

That sounds great, except I don’t have a Christmas tree and am not likely to get one.  I could still post a picture of someone who was a shining star in my life and tell how that person influenced me.  Yet somehow that just doesn’t feel right.

But then as I thought about it, I began to see I needed to see this differently.  I’m not knocking the Light the World calendar.  If you want to do that, that’s great.  I just think I need to focus more on what I can give than on what I have received.  I think I need to be that shining star for someone else rather than showcase what someone else has been for me.

See your full potential

Yeah, I get it.  Like I said, I’m not knocking the Light the World calendar or anything like that.  It’s all good and, like I said, if you want to do it, then do it.  There’s a lot of good that can come from that.

But when I turn the consideration away from what others have done or will do and towards what I will do, I feel I need a different focus.  It’s not hard for me to see that producing Joy in the Journey Radio has helped me undergo a transformation.  I’m not the same man I was last year, and next year I won’t be the same man I am this year.

What’s happened?  What’s changed?  And what’s driven that change?  I think the essence of it is simply that I’m becoming more of the man that God wants me to be.  And that man is a man who spends his days serving others, helping others, and inspiring others to become the men and women God wants them to be.  I think that man is a man devoted to helping others along the covenant path of eternal progression.

And when I say that, I’m not just talking about the spiritual.  I’m talking about the total package — the physical, the emotional, and the mental/intellectual as well as the spiritual.  That’s because I think God wants each of us to become the total package.

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Understand the bigger picture

Don’t misunderstand me.  I’m not suggesting we all become identical clones of some unrealistic ideal.  Your total package may not be the same as my total package.  But your total package represents the fulfillment of your potential just as my total package represents the fulfillment of my potential.

And that’s really the whole idea behind why we’re here.  The whole intent of our Heavenly Father’s plan is for us to achieve the fullness of our potential.  Coming here to this fallen mortal world and having experiences in mortality allow us to take important steps along that path towards achieving our full potential.

That’s what the covenant path of eternal progression really is.  That’s what becoming the total package really is.  It’s all just a series of steps that each help us to become more of that man or woman we can and should be.

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Truly light the world

I’m not going to become the man I can and should be unless I turn my focus to giving.  I need to do more of what the man I can become would do in order to become that man.  I need to be that shining star for others because that’s what the man I can and should become is.

Again, I’m not knocking the Light the World calendar.  And hey, if you really need to do that in order to become the man or woman you need to become, then I say go for it.  Pour your whole self into it.  Whatever your potential is for you, pour your whole self into it and embrace the transformation.

For many of us, I think that transformation will come when we decide to be the shining star for others.  When we decide to hold up our light, others are both inspired to come out of the dark and given permission to hold up their own light.  When they do, that will inspire others and give them permission to do the same.  When we each decide to be the shining star we need to be, we can truly light the world.  And that will bring us more joy in our journey.

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