The Glitter Inside

An Unexpected Morning

Some of life's most meaningful conversations are the ones we never see coming.

Doug and I had pulled Carl into a quiet turnout along the Oregon Coast for the night. A few other travelers had done the same, each of us finding our own little corner of earth beneath an incredible blanket of stars.

Before turning in for the night, Doug stepped outside with his camera.

When he came back, he showed me photographs that took my breath away. Millions of stars stretched across the night sky, reminding us just how vast and beautiful this universe really is.

We admired the photos, climbed into bed, and fell asleep.

Neither of us knew those stars had already begun a conversation that would continue the next morning.

Two Beautiful Souls

The next morning, we found ourselves talking with two of the other campers.

Just strangers.

Until they weren't.

One man shared that he had spent twenty-three years on death row after being wrongly convicted of rape and murder.

Twenty-three years.

He never stopped fighting because he knew the truth.

He continued pushing for DNA testing until, finally, science confirmed what he had known all along.

He was innocent.

He became the first man exonerated from death row through DNA evidence.

Standing beside him was his traveling companion.

For the past ten years, doctors had repeatedly told him he had six months to live.

His entire family had battled the same disease.

Most had died within months.

Yet here he stood.

Camping.

Traveling.

Laughing.

Exploring the Oregon Coast with his friend.

As I listened, I wasn't captivated by their hardships.

I was captivated by their joy.

Stardust

Somewhere in our conversation, one of them looked toward the sky and said,

"We're all stardust."

He spoke about how every one of us is made from the same elements forged in stars.

How everything is connected.

Then he shared something I will never forget.

Some rocks, when you crack them open...

...are just rocks.

Others crack open and reveal something extraordinary.

"They're glittery!"

Crystals.

Brilliance.

Light.

Beauty that was hidden beneath the surface all along.

Then he smiled.

"People are like that."

The Glitter Inside

I've carried those words with me ever since.

The cracks don't create what's beautiful within us.

They reveal it.

Standing before us were two men whose lives had been marked by extraordinary hardship.

One lost twenty-three years to a crime he didn't commit.

The other had lived for ten years beyond the timeline he'd repeatedly been given.

Those facts were real.

But they were not the highest Truth.

The highest truth was standing right in front of us.

Joy.

Wonder.

Curiosity.

Gratitude.

Connection.

Adventure.

They weren't talking about everything life had taken from them.

They were talking about stars.

About possibility.

About being fully alive.

Some people decide to believe a different story.

Not because they deny the facts.

But because they know the Truth is greater than the facts.

They know circumstances don't have the final word.

Truth does.

Looking Back

As Doug and I drove away, I realized the conversation hadn't started that morning.

It had started the night before.

With Doug looking up.

With millions of stars scattered across the sky.

The stars.

Stardust.

The rocks.

The glitter hidden inside.

None of it felt random.

Life had been weaving one beautiful thread through two ordinary days.

One moment preparing us for the next.

One conversation opening our hearts for another.

Life is always speaking.

The question is whether we're paying attention.

The Invitation

Every one of us will be cracked open by life.

Loss.

Heartbreak.

Disappointment.

Illness.

Fear.

Dreams that don't unfold the way we planned.

Those cracks are not evidence that we're broken.

They are the places where our true essence becomes visible.

Love.

Compassion.

Strength.

Joy.

Wisdom.

Hope.

Beauty.

The Glitter!

The beautiful essence of who we are isn't created by hardship.

It is revealed through it.

That is The Power Within.

Reflection

What have the cracks in my own life revealed about the truth of who I am?

Where have I allowed facts to become more powerful than Truth?

How is life inviting me to let more of my own light shine through the places I've been cracked open?