The Light Within

Deep within us all
There is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul
A holy place
A divine center
A speaking voice to which we may continually return.

Gladly committing ourselves
Body and soul
Utterly and completely
To the Light Within
Is the beginning of true life.

The Light Within is a dynamic center
A creative life that presses to birth within us.
It illumines the face of God
And casts new glories on the faces of our fellows.
It is a seed stirring to life, if we do not choke it.

It is the Shekinah of the soul.
It is the Presence in the midst;
Here is the Slumbering Christ,
Stirring to be awakened --
And He is within us all.

- adapted from the first paragraph of Thomas Kelly's Testament of Devotio.
Quaker Street Friends, New York Yearly Meeting