I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts and write something about Maya Angelou but I’m stuck on the first sentence.
“Maya Angelou died last week —“
No, that’s not right.
Her spirit will never die.
“Maya Angelou is no longer with us —“
No, that’s not right, either.
She is still with us in every word she ever wrote, spoke, or sang.
So instead of writing…
I’ve been listening.
I’ve listened to news reports and talk show hosts,
to celebrities and people on the street,
all talking about what she taught them about life and love.
to celebrities and people on the street,
all talking about what she taught them about life and love.
Just the way she spoke taught us something
about the power of words,
about the value of thoughtfully considering what it is that we really want to say,
and about the joy of letting words spring from a hopeful heart without hesitation.
The many roads she traveled taught us
that what we have been is
not necessarily
what we always will be...
that life brings changes...
that we can do better when we know better...
and that forgiveness brings freedom.
We learned from her because
she was always learning.
she was always learning.
She shared what she learned the way a toddler comes running
with eyes shining bright
shouting with joy,
“Look what I found!”
The lesson… the joy… cannot be contained.
It is given to us to be shared.
And share it, she did.
Faithfully.
Frequently.
Fearlessly.
It’s the “Fearlessly” part that often stops us in our tracks.
To share what you’ve been learning you must first admit that there’s something you didn’t know.
It calls attention to parts of ourselves that we don’t like to look at…
That we hope the rest of the world doesn’t see.
Maya Angelou wasn’t afraid to take us with her on her journey of learning,
To show us all the paths she had taken...
The lessons she had learned...
The things she had released in order to take hold of something better.
She showed us the hope in her heart,
The good in us that we did not see in ourselves,
The heights we could reach when we felt mired in the depths.
I pray that, like her, we will see…
In our weaknesses
opportunities for growth,
In our discouragement
a spark of hope,
And in each other,
our best selves instead of our worst.
She said,
“I’ve had a lot of rainbows in my clouds.
I’ve had a lot of clouds.
But I’ve had a lot of rainbows in my clouds.”
Which will you remember best…
The rainbow or the clouds?
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