For a farmer like me, I was interested to learn that the lyric “Keep Your Eye on the Prize” is a variation of the song “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” by civil rights activist Alice Wine. The new lyrics were first sung at the Newport Jazz festival in 1958 when Mahalia Jackson and Duke Ellington performed the song.
The phrase “Keep Your Eye on the Prize” is defined as, “To remain focused on achieving a positive end result, without being distracted by problems or setbacks.”
Great light pours into our world. Meanwhile problems and setbacks surround us- so much so that we can drown in the daily problems and setbacks. I like this song’s reminder to keep our eye on the prize. And what is this prize, this positive result?
I’m still thinking big when it comes to the prize. World Peace. Tolerance. A Healed Earth. All sentient beings loved and cared for. I’m in the mindset that radical change for the better can and will happen. I’m firm in my belief that the incoming light is helping humanity give birth to a new more loving version of itself.
About this incoming light, I like it when I hear astronomers speak of Earth moving to a new part of the galaxy, a place of greater light. However, my experience of this incoming light is first and foremost a felt one, and therefore this is the main reason I believe positive change is coming.
I don’t mean to suggest this incoming light is what’s saving us. To clarify, since we are one with everything and nothing is separate, the incoming light and us receiving the light is like us shaking our own hand. We can say that a part of us is ready to receive the light and a part of us ready to bring the light, but there really are no different parts.
Because this greater light is pouring in 24/7, we can experience it at any moment. Sometimes this happens to me, say when I am pausing to look at the clouds. It does seem that right now I need to be quiet and still to feel this light clearly. This means it is mostly in the quiet of the night that I feel this energy pouring in.
Each night I welcome this light, first by asking for help from Angels, Elementals and Ascended Masters to release all that needs to be released from within me, all the shadow bits that are taking up space that could be filled with this light. I ask for the support of these higher aspects of oneness because they know how to integrate the light into lower vibrations. The Ascended Masters in particular have done it for themselves. Then I try and open to receive this light into my energy system. I ask for it to be grounded into the grid of Green Hope Farm too. How amazing to be here now, for it seems we need only settle down and close our eyes and there it is, this generous loving light.
This light is for everyone, no exceptions. Do we have to ask for guidance or open to receive it or even notice it in order for it to fill us? I don’t think so, but I like working with it in this way. I believe our willingness to receive the light helps it fill our world and that helps all creation.
One of you asked that I keep on trying to share my understanding of things in 3D and 5D terms. So here I would say I break my request into two pieces; a request to release 3D patterns that keep me vibrating in the illusion of separation (things like judgement, anger, hatred, fear) and a request to welcome into my energy system this light with its gift of 5D and higher vibrations of love and healing.
As I experience the light coming in, I find it impossible to imagine that this light energy doesn’t reflect a big shift underway. I am glad for tools like Flower Essences that help smooth the integration of this energy. I am also grateful for Flower Essences’ support with releasing the old as well as welcoming in the light. This light is a big deal, and I am grateful for all the support we are getting to remember it is part of us.
In the quiet of the night when I sit with this light, it’s easy to have my eye on the prize because it feels so close. I don’t know exactly what shapes the prize will take in our world or exactly how the old will give up the ghost and the new will be born. But it’s like transition in labor. The part of us that has been submerged in the pain doubts a birth will ever happen, let alone soon, but the body knows, the baby knows and the midwives know. Yup, this baby is coming.
So yes, I am aware that we haven’t gotten to the birth yet, We’re still in the pain and suffering. No doubt there will still be bloody towels to clean up even as the baby takes its first victorious breath. But this moment of new life is upon us.
This is such an enormous paradigm shift that I don’t think we can even imagine all that is being born right now, but I do think we will know more soon. The blissful quality of this incoming light informs me that the baby born will be worth the mess. These glimpses of the light, thrilling and astounding, keeps me going with my hand on the plow.
I return to the earlier lyric “Hand on the Plow” because we have to keep going through this turmoil not with hand wringing or by washing our hands of the whole mess or by handing off the problems to another but by keeping our hand on the plow. For me this is cooking the meals, doing the dishes, reading books to grandchildren, knitting for babies, packing your orders and writing you notes, walking the dog, planning the gardens, dreaming of Flowers, trying to make the best of difficult birth canal moments, digging deep to find morsels of humor, trying to work through the problems and confusions of this time- just keeping going in the most ordinary way in a most extraordinary time.
And I know from your notes that you are peaceful warriors too, doing what needs doing, a dishtowel in one hand and eyes crinkling to reflect a reassuring smile underneath the mask. It’s a privilege to be with you in this time.
