The Shape of a Soul

You are the light of the world. - Matthew 5:14

What if we took that line seriously? What if we leaned into it and believed that God made us well, made us beautiful, made us to shine? Take some time today with this poem, pondering what it might mean to shine because that’s who we are, not for any other reason.

The Shape of a Soul
Chuck DeGroat

You’ve been told the lie

(though not in so many words)

that if you don’t shine

You’ll disappear.

That you won’t be seen

if you’re not on.

That digital space is crowded

and the algorithms demand your sacrifice.

Feed the glow, they say

Curate brilliance

(even if you don’t have it in you)

The digital egosphere requires its offering.

So you polish your moments,

(and trim the ragged edges)

filter the light until it flatters,

until you are palatable enough to trend.

Yet in the quiet

when the screen dims

and the crowd scrolls past

You feel the hollowing.

What good is being seen

if I am no longer here?

What worth is relevance

if it costs me presence?

I want you to step back

let the glow fade

let the silence swell

until you remember the shape of your own soul.

To shine, not for them,

but because

the light within

is enough.