Sun Breaks

I live on the coast in the Pacific Northwest. It rains here a lot. Having grown up in the Portland and Seattle areas, I am no stranger to rain, and I have always had a sentimental, soft spot for rainy weather. That said, during the winter months when we get rain for weeks on end, and the skies are gray almost constantly, I find myself going a little bit crazy. Enter my sanity's saving grace, the sun break.

A sun break, by traditional definition, is the moment that the sun breaks forth at dawn. However, here in the Pacific Northwest, a sun break also happens when the sun pierces the cloud cover, or when the clouds part for long enough to let the light through for a few moments. Sun breaks can be dramatically beautiful, and they often feel sacred to me. Seeing shafts of light breaking through the clouds has always brought to my mind the hands of God; the light, like fingers reaching towards the earth.

After days of rain, when the clouds part for a few minutes, and the blue sky appears, I feel a renewed sense of hope that sees me through, even though the light itself may not last very long. Sun breaks always seem to happen just when I need them the most. They speak to my tired soul and say, "Beautiful things are ahead. Hang on."

We live in an often dark and gloomy world. People can be selfish, mean, and lack compassion for others. Life can be extraordinarily stressful, and we sometimes get caught up in our own little rain clouds and can't find any light. But we can be the sun break for somebody else. Small acts of kindness can chase away the clouds and give others hope. The choices we make every day in how we treat others can be so simple, and yet they can be just as beautiful as those fingers of light, breaking through the darkness. 

It can be as easy as smiling at a stranger, lending a helping hand, telling someone you love them, or miss them, or that they are beautiful. Choosing to give light can be as simple as withholding judgment, choosing to think kindly of someone else, forgiving someone that may have wronged you, asking forgiveness of someone you wronged. Light can come from the touch of a hand, a hug, a look of understanding, a kind word. You can be the moment that gives someone enough hope to hold on just a little bit longer. You can be the glimpse of beautiful things ahead. You can be the beginning of change in the world. You can be the light. And if all of us chose to give light, maybe we could banish our own darkness as well as that of others.

Go ahead. Be someone's sun break. Choose to be a light. Shine on.