If you know me at all you know I’m an avid reader. I love finding new books, falling in love with their stories, and then share them out with the world.

One of my favorite authors ever is Jeff Zentner.  His book The Serpent King is one of my top 5 all time favorite books.

A book he released last year was Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee.

For whatever reason, I took my time getting around to this book. I never made it a priority. But I finished it yesterday, and WOW.

I loved the humor, the heart, and the story.

But I especially love this little section about fireflies and I wanted to share it with you.

“This one morning in late September, I woke up a lot earlier than usual. For some reason, I went outside, and it was still dark and chilly.

Then I saw a firefly blink. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I was hallucinating. I’ve never seen one that late in the year. You could tell by how slowly it moved that it was close to dying. I thought about it all day. How bummed I was that this lonely firefly was shining it’s light out into the world when everyone had left him behind. It seemed sad and desperate.

But lately I’ve been thinking a lot about that firefly. And not because it’s September. Because I see it differently now. Maybe that firefly wasn’t sad and lonely and desperate. Maybe it was ok with being left behind, and it was shining it’s light because that’s what it does.

For a long time I shined my light for someone other than me. But not anymore. Now I shine bright for me. You can create light even when everyone’s left you behind because that’s what you do. It’s what I do. I don’t know if the world will remember me or what I did. But I’ll know that I burned as bright as I could.”

WOW.

That just hit me so hard. Especially with the journey I’m on right now in my life.

For so long I felt like I was shining bright….for others. But not for me.

I felt left out, or abandoned, by different people in my life.

And part of me stopped shining.

Maybe that’s like you today. Maybe you feel your light dimming. You feel alone, tired, abandoned, failing.

But then that last line above comes back to me. We don’t have to shine our light for others. We can create light even when everyone leaves. Why? Because that’s what we do. We burn as bright as we can, for us.

So today I hope you find your light and burn brightly for no one other than YOU.

Get your copy of Jeff Zentner’s book here: