As you may have heard, Glenn welcomed his first grandchild into the world yesterday - beautiful baby girl named Lorelai Rose DiDonato. On radio this morning, Glenn reflected on the experience of bringing a child into the world and the incredible joy and optimism that comes along with it.
"I got to tell you, yesterday was the birth of my granddaughter who is beautiful,” Glenn said. “She was laughing, and she was smiling. And she's perfect in every way. She's perfect.”
Glenn explained that he was talking to a friend recently who has been really down on his luck. He has been out of work, and he is discouraged. But Glenn decided it was time to change the tone of the conversation from despair to hope.
“I said to him, ‘Flip this around. Congratulations!’ He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Congratulations. You weren't happy there anyway. You weren't happy. That's not what you wanted to do. You now have the opportunity to start your life over again. The universe or God, whatever you want to call it, has just handed you this opportunity to be the authentic you, to reach inside of yourself and really be you,’” Glenn explained. “He's always wanted to be in business for himself. He's got dreams, aspirations. Go do them. Now is the chance to do them because everybody else is going to be cookie cutter. You are going to go to another job, live in fear of losing that job, and it will be another job you don't want. Take off your mask.”
While Glenn would not necessarily describe himself as a Marianne Williamson fan, he did find great truth in a quote he was recently sent of hers.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
“I watched my grandchild yesterday. May I learn from her what it is like to be childlike again. We surrounded my daughter's bed yesterday and held hands as a family, and we prayed. We gave glory to the creator of the universe and gave Him grateful thanks for entrusting this little child to us and begged for his strength to raise her back to Him,” Glenn said. “And in that prayer, I begged the Lord: I know you sent her to us for a reason, and I know she has much to teach us. Please, let us be humble enough to see the lessons that come from her. She's a powerful spirit. Every child that is born today is born for a reason. They have something inside of them they are supposed to do, and it is important work.”
“It's easy to think that about your children. Start thinking about that with you because you were born for some incredible work,” he concluded. “I don't know what it is, but you were supposed to do something. Free yourself of fear and do it. Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”