Hello Sunshine

“Rise and shine,” whispers Sun as she peeks her newborn rays around the edges of your curtain, and maybe your soul.

Is she taunting me? you wonder, tugging the sheet ever tighter around your face, which you’re certain no one wants to see today.

I see you. I’ve been you -- lying in the darkness of lost dreams, the dreams that flicked out the light on their way out the door without so much as a goodbye kiss. Why put in the long hours only to eak out an existence that mostly benefits those who tax the very air you breathe? Not to mention the humans! They are critical at best and vindictive at worst -- and when will you learn to stop throwing your lovingly polished pearls to that pack of wild beasts, only to see them trampled in the mud without mercy?

What is the point of it all!? you scream into the apparent void.

Sun waits patiently while you get it all out, and then comes her answer:

“Now listen, dear one. Those are nighttime questions, the ones that come over us when we need to rest. Rest, and sleep, and let those questions burn up like the stars. If you aren’t up to shining just yet, that’s okay. Shining will come, but only if you rise.

“Because when I rise, there is work to do. Every day I make my way around the world, and everywhere I meet those who curse my existence. Sometimes they don’t like what I reveal about them when I shine on their empty spaces, and their dark intentions, but they don’t get to snuff me out.”

Why not? Why even bother when they are so unkind?

“Because all over the world there are people planting flowers that bring beauty, and crops that feed masses. There are people learning to read and others writing the stories. There is some mural being painted to beautify some city and without me no one might see it.

“So it is with you. Not everyone will love your work, or your creations, and some will even curse your good intentions. Nevertheless, little star, some can’t do without you. Rise and create.”

I’ve tried to create, but I’ve made so many messes along the way.

“Every morning, mercy rises new with me. Hope springs up from the dark night. As surely as the sunflower raises its head to follow me from one side of the sky to the next, so can you, when you have rested and the time is right, raise your head. Rise, and hope.”

But I’m afraid. Afraid the wind will blow down my structure, afraid the hateful will stomp on my pearls, afraid the dishonest will tax away my gains piece by piece, afraid that for all my struggles nothing I give will make a difference.

“Worry not for those who tax the air you breathe, but instead, think of those who choose to go on breathing because of you. Your smile, your encouragement, your generosity and love. They may seem like pebbles cast into a vast ocean, but they ripple out all around you in ways you do not see. Rise, and live. Live!”

Ugh, tomorrow there’s that meeting I’ve been dreading all week. I don’t feel prepared to pitch that new idea to the boss.

“Tomorrow’s mercies will rise tomorrow. You only have to think about today. Wise you are to prepare for tomorrow, but you cannot do two days’ work at once. Work steadily through each day. Work with purpose, one day at a time. In this is fulfillment – daily you place a few more stones upon the last, watching a magnificent castle take shape, satisfied that you did what you could for today and you will build upon that work tomorrow. Rise, and begin.

“Begin! Come on, you can do it. You don’t have to go far, only to the window. Pull back the curtains, all the way back. Let the light in. Let hope chase away that fear that has you hiding under the blanket of darkness. Let another opportunity to create open the window for new dreams to flood into the room. Let the heart that still beats in your chest and the breath that still lives in your lungs give what they can while there is still another day to live. Let your hands build something that benefits you and those around you. Build a shelter, build a monument, build a fairytale castle, build yourself a space to belong. Even if you find yourself back at the bare foundation, begin again. Begin today.”

Only when you take that first step into the light do you remember. That’s when the warmth starts on your face and spreads, down your neck, your chest, all the way to your arms, fingers, toes, and you remember…

You remember what it feels like to shine.