Welcoming the Light

It is one of my morning rituals. Sit up in bed, put my feet on the floor, and wonder, once again, why morning has come SO early.  Head groggily into the kitchen where I try to navigate the intricacies of my one-cup Keurig, half-awake without a minor kitchen catastrophe.  Those of you who own a Keurig with a reservoir will never quite understand this challenge, but some of my previous house guests will.  I'll let them remain nameless.

Oh, I am SO not a morning person.  But, once I know that liquid caffeine in the form of Twinings English Breakfast Tea will soon be mine, I shuffle....even a little more awake....over to the patio door to open the blinds.  I have thought, often, that the vertical blinds installed by our apartment complex are even more difficult to operate awake than the Keurig is asleep.  But I can usually manage it by this point.

As I pull that plastic beaded cord, I wake up fully, suddenly full of joy and simple enthusiasm for what will happen.  With a gentle tug, the blinds rotate 45 degrees, and that simple change floods my living room with light.  Sometimes, it's the brilliant sunshine of a cloudless day.  Other days, it's only the grey overcast haze of a storm.  But either way, my living room is brighter, more welcoming, more cheerful.

It is such a joy each morning to welcome the light into my home.  I wonder sometimes if life isn't just a little bit like that.  A challenge may confound us, and befuddle us like my Keurig when I first wake up, leaving us in a gloomy, dark place.  But sometimes the simplest of things, advice from a friend, a walk, a good night's sleep...can make the change, and suddenly the problem is flooded with light, and so much more hopeful than it seemed in the dark.

I love sunshine and light, and it is my everyday joy today to welcome the light.  I hope I will remember to welcome it into EVERY part of my life, not just my living room.