Sometimes the moon keeps me up at night. Or it’s my heavy brain, working overtime and I like to blame it on the moon. It’s so bright tonight, racing through my curtains, falling right across my face as I lay buried under my covers in the cold winter chill that seeps through the old window panes. Like it needs to get in because it has something important to tell me. I spend extra time these nights by the door as the dogs are outside, amazed at how the night sky lights up like the dawn. It’s 1:16am and it’s one of those nights.
Bright like the dawn.
Or maybe my mind just won’t turn off, like usual. Wanting to sleep, but filled with so much thought. Sometimes I see or hear something during the day that won’t let me go. I am my father’s daughter. Awake, thinking, feeling.
I watched a story of a family on the news tonight who lost their house last week in a fire. All of their belongings, gone. I often wonder what that must feel like, losing everything to something you can’t control. Another family’s car was broken into while the father was having surgery for cancer. Their son had paid a high price in Iraq, almost dying in combat. His health and way of life is forever affected. Their Christmas gifts were stolen from the car, the window shattered. They have no money to replace the gifts, only the window to keep out that cold winter chill. I wonder if the moon shines as brightly over their house tonight. And if it doesn’t, maybe they could borrow mine. I want to help. I wrote down their address in hopes that I could shine even a drop of light their way. To let them know that the hope they are searching for is still there.
I also think about those people who I have lost along the way, those people who have made me who I am. Perhaps they have something to do with the moon. Perhaps they are the reason it shines so brightly just when I need it to most.
I question the moon tonight. I ask it to give more light. Maybe it’s just not enough. There are people out there who need it. People who are searching for any light at all…Hard times, uncertain futures, love lost, sickness, fear, loneliness.
Maybe if I could shine as brightly, I could help the moon. In some strange way, I think we all do. We all give an energy that shines for those around us. And maybe, right when they need it most.
Some days, we could be the one to change a life. We may never know it. But we keep shining.
In the little things we do, we could give someone hope in a moment we may not even understand.
Giving that light away seems like the only logical thing to do then.
I choose to reflect the moon. I choose to give what I am given.
So go ahead moon, shine with all your light.
I can close my eyes now.
