Lift Up Your Head - Face the Light

I hope that this is not too much of a "give away" to the folks that worship with me on Sunday mornings, but it's where I keep returning when I sit and ask "what should I write about today?"... So, I will "speak" it.
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There is always a song that "touches" me. This week is no exception. It is a new song for me; one I hadn't heard until a few days ago. Right now, it is permanently etched in my brain - well, at least the "bridge" part is:

"Lift up your head, oh, oh, oh
Lift up your head, Look on Him"

And, as I sit and listen to the music, I think about how I would sign those words. The fact that it repeats six times makes it either easy or challenging - depending on your perspective. After I have some sort of idea of what I THINK I would sign - or in those times when I have NO idea what I'd sign - I just close my eyes and listen, and set my hands free of my brain's conscious control.

In this song, I literally "lift up" my head to start. As it progresses, my hands also sign "Shame. no." That works too. "Focus to God" works as well.

And then I stop to think about that, as I write the sign-words on the lyric sheet (so I won't forget!). Wow. How true it has been in my life. Lifting my head and facing the Light - the Truth. I think back to the days when I often ignored or "overlooked" the truth. The days when I turned away with my head hung in shame, believing there wasn't enough forgiveness in the world. That there were valid reasons I felt cold and alone.

I didn't realize my choice then. I could choose to look toward the Light or the Darkness. It seemed easier at the time to avoid the Light. I didn't realize then, but the Light is where the healing is. It truly is the Way, the Truth and the Life...

Fortunately, there were those in my life that knew this. They knew that there is ALWAYS Light at the end of the darkness. And, no matter how thick and cold and impenetrable it seems, so long as I kept walking toward it, I would find the Light. As I slowly began to trust, and to face the Light, I began to feel the warmth. I began to believe and have faith that Hope exists. I realized I had never been alone.

I do not walk in shame any more. I don't always LIKE the truth, but I've learned that it doesn't go away or get better by ignoring it. It does get better as I face it and walk toward it. I also realized that often the last one to forgive me is.... Me.

It doesn't matter where you are in life. It doesn't matter what you've done, what you haven't done... "Lift up your head..." Face the Light. Feel the warmth. There is Hope.