My 2 year old is sick. Some of the others have been sick too over the last couple weeks, but the littlest one has gotten it the worst. Isn’t it hard to see someone you love struggle and feel so awful? I would love to take it away from him and give him wellness and strength.

This morning he was coughing so much that his little body was not doing well. I scooped him up, grabbed a blanket and a bowl, and took him out onto the back deck to see if the cool air would help him breathe a little easier. He snuggled on my lap with the blanket up under his chin. It was 6:30 am. The sun was just starting to rise. The birds were singing and the air was cool and he and I sat there and just watched.

He didn’t talk, he didn’t try to get down, he just allowed me to hold him tightly and we listened to the birds.

As the sun came up through the trees and those first warm rays touched my skin I closed my eyes and felt the warmth and enjoyed this opportunity I had to hold my baby and watch the sunrise.

I noticed something as we sat … with my eyes closed and the sun coming up, the lightness grew brighter and brighter and the warmth grew warmer and warmer on my skin … ever so slightly, little by little. It wasn’t a “sun up – BAM – BRIGHT and HOT” it was a gradual lightening and a gradual warming.

At first the sun was only touching my face on the right side. Pretty soon it was warm enough and light enough to touch my face, my shoulder, my arm, and my leg, my foot. Within the hour we sat there, the whole yard was lit up, the whole right side of my body was fully warm from the sun, and we were turning our heads away from the brightness because it was so piercing.

I took away from this witness in nature, quite a bit:

1. Sunrise is a peaceful time. To be able to enjoy it occasionally is very much worth getting up early and slowing down to take it in.
2. When kids are sick, or someone is in need, stopping everything I’m doing and giving full attention to that need is exactly the response I should have. I didn’t take my phone out and try to continue what I was doing or try to distract myself, I just sat holding my little boy and appreciating the moment … even with him being sick there was much to appreciate.
3. The earth is full of life. The birds and the bugs and the flowers and the trees – there is so much life everywhere. Life = life … there isn’t a life that is less than me or unconnected to me … I am one with all life. To think that I could ever feel alone is silly when I look around me and see how full of life this world is. I only need to look beyond myself and see that I am connected to all things, and the moment I do that I will be enveloped in the arms of existence and never feel alone again.
4. Light is warm and inviting and bright and glorious. The sun graces us with its warmth every day. Without fail. Sometimes the clouds are in the way, sometimes we’re in a spot we can’t see it, but it IS always there and it is always shining and it IS always lighting the world.
5. There are witnesses of truth all around us if we have eyes to see them.
6. Truth = light. Truth is warm and inviting and bright and glorious. Love, truth, light … we can partake of those everyday if we choose. Without fail. They are always available, always in front of us, always within reach. Sometimes things are in the way and we can’t see clearly, but it doesn’t change the fact that the truth (and light and love) is always there, is always shining and is ALWAYS lighting the world. We receive truth just as the sun rises in the sky … gradually, little by little.

Even as terrible as having a sick 2 year old is, and as awful as having to clean up throwing up toddler messes … I still feel love for this day. Going outside to witness the sunrise was inspired and I’m grateful that inspiration came to me in the moment I needed it. I didn’t have to sit inside with a crying boy and feel down about the day ahead, I got to breathe fresh air and watch the sun rise into the sky and light the world … what greater gift to start the day?

Every day there is an available gift for you. You only need to look for it. It could be in a sunrise, a smile, a kind word, a bird on your deck, praise from your boss, a heart rock on the ground, a text from your friend, a quote you read that was JUST what you needed … there is a limitless supply and it is always tailored to be exactly what YOU need for the moment you’re in … every moment.

If you look for the joy, look for the gift, orient yourself to the light … TOWARD the rising sun … you will be inspired. And that inspiration will come JUST when you need it and it will fill you with JUST what you need. Believe that it is readily available and that the Universe is working FOR you – for your benefit, for your divine potential.

Any small thing that sparks joy, wonder, love, gratitude, humility, enlightenment, ideas, expansion … isn’t a small thing, it is a BIG thing. It is God giving you a gift for your day and asking you to choose to see that that is what it is.

See it. Believe it. Know it. Look for the things in your experience that inspire you and fill you up and then say “thank you, thank you, thank you.”

And as you feel that gratitude you will know with no doubt in your mind that you are loved. And you are seen. And you are known. And you are not alone.

honorthismoment