Do you have something or someone in your life that just means the absolute world to you? Your younger sister? Your older brother? Your mother because you two are the best of friends? Or maybe something a bit simpler than that, like a pair of shoes? Or even your favorite sweatshirt? Now, let me ask you this, are you thankful for that certain thing, person, or object in your life every morning when you wake up or every night when you lay down to go to sleep? Or, are you human and at times take things for granted? I can admit, I take a lot of things for granted. It’s as simple as taking my bed for granted. There are plenty people in this world who probably worry all day about where they are going to stay for the night, and what they will use to stay warm. Yet, I am able to lie in bed at night and not even have to worry about the blankets that are keeping me warm and the pillow that is comforting my head. There are plenty of people in this world who do not have clothes on their back, yet I get the chance to think of what I am going to wear the next day. There are plenty of people in this world who have no food placed in front of their face for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, yet during the day when I get hungry, I imagine what I am going to eat when I get home. Those are the materialistic things that seem so small, yet make the biggest difference.

The other day, I was at the mall. I saw this beautiful elderly couple that warmed my heart the second I saw them. The woman was shopping and her husband was standing right behind her. Everyone was just going on with their day and taking a glimpse at them, but I just slowly walked by and realized a lot about this couple. The wife was shopping and the husband was carrying her bags, making an offer every time the wife would pick something cute out. The husband had multiple bags in his left hand from different stores and multiple dresses in the other hand that the wife had picked out from that previous store. The only thing that had occurred to me during the time being was, does that woman know how beautiful of a soul her husband has to be carrying her clothes around while she takes her time and shops? Or was she just simply taking those dresses off the rack and placing them in his hands, without a word being said because it was a typical day for her and her husband? This was the smallest act of kindness from this elderly man that probably would have made the biggest difference in this woman’s day if she took the time and said two words: “thank you,” and realized that that day was not promised to her in the first place.

So, your new shoes may be your favorite thing at the time, and your big brother may be making the biggest difference in your life during the time as well; but I choose the sun. Yes, the sun is yellow, the sun is round, and the sun is very hot, we all know about this, but I tend to read into the sun just a bit more that what a “normal” person typically would. The sun is vibrant. It’s rays light up the sky and turn the world into a growing picture that is constantly changing. The sun rises and the sun sets. When the sun rises, the colors in the sky are so beautiful to the point where it leaves some of the people on this earth speechless. The sun sets as well, and when this happens, we experience the dark, and if you think about it, the “dark” is not a thing, so why do people fear it? “Darkness” is just a name used when the sun is absent and not creating light. Light is a thing, and the sun never fails to remind us that. More than anything, the sun allows us day in and day out, to start over, and begin again. We can make a mistake one day, and the sun sets and rises the next day to remind us that yes, tomorrow is not promised, but if I am given the chance to live another day, I have another chance to make a difference and learn from the mistake I had made beforehand. This is why I am completely in love with the sun because it is the one thing I never seem to take for granted.

I take people for granted, I take the food I am given to eat for granted, and I take all of the materialistic things for granted, but I always seem to get reminded every day when I wake up to that beautiful, vibrant, life-giving object in the sky, that I woke up, I am living, and I get to start over. Have you ever taken the time to be thankful for the sun and all that it does for you? Probably not, because the sun has been there since the day you were born, and it is part of your normal routine. My point being is, just because someone is constantly putting in extra effort for you to be sweet, don’t forget to say, “thank you,” even if it is something that has become part of your daily routine. Even though you wake up to your mom cooking you breakfast, and even though your nightly routine is to brush your teeth, shower, pick your outfit out for the next day, and lay in your comfy bed, do not forget to be thankful. A mother and her child somewhere do not. You have food to eat for breakfast, and some child somewhere does not. You have a toothbrush, and some child somewhere does not. You have clothes to wear, and some child somewhere does not. You have clothes to pick out for the next day, and some child somewhere has been wearing the same pants for months. You have hot water to cleanse your body, yet some child somewhere has to walk two miles to get his/her water, while we maybe walk a total of 10 steps. You have a bed to lie down in, and some child somewhere has concrete to be thankful for, because at least he/she is alive.

I choose the sun; it never fails to show up through my window every morning to make me realize that I was given another day to make a difference and grow mentally, emotionally, and physically. Tomorrow is not promised, so start with the sun.

"Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth, 'You owe me.' Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky."