So grateful to you for sending out the BELONGING invitation. Refugees need to feel this. I know I did not belong in Uganda nor Kenya until the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) registered us in Nairobi. I cannot forget that day ever. Then in the US my family was deported twice. Through it all angels … literally showed up to hold our hands and walk the earth 🌍. -Marcellina

This was just one of many-an-amazing-response from last week’s community email about belonging with many perspectives about refugees, war, government policy, and what love looks like in the face of hate, injustice, and fear. I’m grateFULL for each and every one, whether strikingly similar to or vastly different from mine. It’s pretty incredible to have a chorus of varied community voices, aye?

Pope Francis spoke to what many of y’all brought up … about our inextricable interconnection in a TED talk, “Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone:”

How wonderful would it be,
while we discover faraway planets,
to rediscover the needs of the brothers and sisters
orbiting around us.
All it takes is for one person to stop and help,
and change the lives of people around us,
turning a small ripple into a revolution …
Through the darkness of today’s conflicts,
each and every one of us can
become a bright candle,
a reminder that light will overcome darkness,
and never the other way around.

Yes, yes, yes. Let these words roll over your tongue, take root in your heart, and let me know what comes to you as you do. Keep your AWEsome stories, similar or different perspectives, and pings of inspiration comin’ my way.

Remember to email me any requests for prayer or extra love/juju. Don’t go it alone. ❤️

You are loved.
We belong to each other.
Let’s standTALL together and light up the world.

Here’s to being bright candles, together.

PS … enJOY this excerpt from Live Ablaze, called “Shared Humanity”, from which the above excerpt and quote were taken.
May it inspire, ignite, and enCOURAGE you today.