Be a Queen

Editor’s Note: Over the years, we have been inspired by messages about love and the power of choice that great women of the world have given us.  One of the most inspiring messages has come through the works, actions, and examples of one of the world’s most loved and respected women, Oprah Winfrey.  Continually she reminds us that within every woman lies a queen, waiting to claim her glory.  Referring to a theme used by Marianne Williamson in her book A Woman’s Worth, Oprah said the following in a commencement address to the graduates of all-female Spelman College in 1993:

Be a queen. Dare to be different.  Be a pioneer.  Be a leader.  Be the kind of woman who in the face of adversity will continue to embrace life and walk fearlessly toward the challenge.  Take it on! Be a truth seeker and rule your domain, whatever it is – your home, your office, your family – with a loving heart.

Be a queen. Be tender. Continue to give birth to new ideas and rejoice in your womanhood…  my prayer is that we will stop wasting time being mundane and mediocre… we are daughters of God – her to teach the world how to love…

It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, where you come from, who your parents are – nor your social or economic status.  None of that matters. What matters is how you choose to love, how you choose to express that love through your work, through your family, through what you have to give to the world…

Be a queen. Own your power and your glory!

--ZT from Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul