Toinyette's Journey

How a morning shower, a familiar song, and my father’s story of a lily reminded me where the light truly lives.

Some mornings begin with meditation.
Some mornings begin with clarity.

And some mornings begin with a mind that refuses to be still.

This morning was the third kind.

I woke up intending to meditate, but my thoughts kept circling back to work; payroll tasks, responsibilities, things that needed attention. Instead of forcing the stillness, I did something simple and familiar. I got up, stepped into the shower, and started my morning routine.

For me, music is part of that ritual.

But I wasn’t in the mood for nonsense music this morning. I needed something that carried truth. So, I turned on India Arie.

Her song “I Am Light” began to play.

I have heard this song many times over the years. I have listened to India Arie since the beginning of her career. Yet this morning was the first time I truly heard what she was singing.

The lyrics say:

I am not the color of my eyes
I am not the skin on the outside
I am not my age
I am not my race, my soul inside is all light.

When those words played through the speaker, something in me became very still.

She continued:

I am light, I am light
I am divinity defined
I am the God on the inside.

And suddenly the meaning landed in a way it never had before.

She wasn’t simply singing about confidence or self-esteem. She was singing about something deeper, the realization that the essence of a person is not defined by the external world.

Not by race.
Not by age.
Not by appearance.
Not even by the circumstances around us.

She was pointing to something ancient that mystics across cultures have said in different ways:

There is a light within.

Standing there in the shower, I listened to the song twice.

As the water ran and the music filled the room, a memory surfaced from years ago. Something my father used to preach.

He would tell a story about a tall lily growing in the middle of a cesspool.

Someone asked the lily how it could possibly grow in such a foul, unpleasant place.

The lily answered:

“My roots grow far below this mess, and my head rises far above it.
I may be in this mess, but I am not a part of this mess.”

As I stood there remembering his words, I laughed a little to myself. At first, I thought, maybe that’s not the best example.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was actually a perfect one.

The lily grows where it is planted, yet it is not defined by the environment surrounding it.

Its roots reach deeper than the corruption around it.
Its head rises higher than the circumstances around it.

That is the same message India Arie was singing.

It is also the same spiritual truth that appears again and again in sacred teachings: we may live in this world, but the essence of who we are is not limited to it.

Another one of her songs, “Beautiful,” carries a similar longing. In that song she expresses the desire to escape the definitions placed upon us by society; the standards, expectations, and judgments that try to tell us who we are.

There is a quiet desire in that song to reach a place that is pure, free, and true.

Some traditions might call that place enlightenment.
Some call it awakening.
Some call it the Kingdom of Heaven within.

In the language of ancient scripture, it could even be symbolized by the Tree of Life, a reminder of unity with the source of life itself.

What struck me this morning is how wisdom often reaches us in layers.

Sometimes we hear something for years without truly understanding it.

I had heard my father’s story about the lily long ago.

I had listened to India Arie’s music for decades.

Yet this morning those two things suddenly connected.

The lily rising above the cesspool.
The song declaring “I am light.”
The quiet realization that the divine spark within a person is untouched by the chaos around them.

It was as if the message I had heard many times finally arrived at the right moment to be understood.

Perhaps that is how spiritual understanding unfolds.

Seeds are planted in our lives through parents, teachers, music, books, and experiences. They sit quietly beneath the surface for years.

Then one ordinary morning—standing in the shower, listening to a familiar song—those seeds begin to grow.

And we realize something simple but powerful:

We may live in the middle of a noisy and complicated world.

But like the lily, our roots reach deeper.

And like the light in the song, the essence within us rises higher.

We may be in this world.

But the light within reminds us that we are not defined by it.

— Toinyette

Quiet Wisdom

The lily does not argue with the mud around it.
It simply grows toward the light.

And in doing so, it reminds us that our roots may be in the earth,
but our true nature always reaches toward heaven.

Quiet Affirmation

I am a living expression of the Most High.
The light within me cannot be dimmed by the world around me.
I walk in truth, love, and divine awareness.