Light and love and Dr. King

I know I'm about a month late to the party, but for some reason, this Christmas-y snippet came to me today:

"Let your heart be light" © Holly DeWolf http://bit.ly/10nUkSu

Really?? I asked the snippet. How can I? Knowing what I know and struggling as I struggle...and knowing how others struggle—much, much more than I do... How can I possibly let my heart be light?

Just "let it be"... the snippet seemed to say ...in spite of everything that weighs on you, "lay your burdens down" and "let your heart be light." (My subconscious sometimes speaks to me in medleys.)

...not only eased of those burdens—your own and others'—but "let your heart be light," as in "let your little light shine."

Oh, what a little light mine is, I mused.

Better lift it up, then, replied the snippet—like those gravity lamps on Science Friday with Ira Flatow (http://n.pr/VxhYIm). (Yep, that's what the snippet said.) 

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.~Matthew 5:14-16, King James Version

...or, "Here’s another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."~Matthew 5:14-16, The Message
  
Another famous figure said something significant about light—someone who knew much-too-much about suffering, struggling, who had many "sins and griefs to bear" for himself and the world, and yet—look here—even he let his heart be light:

Darkness cannot drive out darkness:

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate:

only love can do that.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.