This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
let it shine, let it shine, let it shine
…
Ain’t gonna let cancer blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine …
Even if my hair falls out, I’m gonna let it shine …
…
This great big light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine

Now, every time I hear that song, it will bring tears to my eyes. We sang it several different times over the weekend, and cried every time we got to the second verse. Even now as I type it, my eyes begin to water.

Over the weekend, it was the one song that everyone seem to be able to sing along to. We sang verses that related to the cancer journey, rather than ones that were overtly Christian, so those in at the retreat who did not identify as Christian could still sing along.

The song also reminds me of a sermon by one of our (at the time) intern ministers at the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa. Every time I hear the song, I think of Laila and her aversion to the ‘let it shine’ as she didn’t want to broadcast her light. She would rather choose to not ‘let it shine’ – that is what I remember about it.

Either way, I love the song. I love the tune, and the energy of it – but it will now bring tears to my eyes. It will forever remind me of fly fishing in Northern California – but more importantly, of all the amazing strong and compassionate women that made the retreat so meaningful. They are good tears, but tears none the less.