I once learned that on a dark night, you can see one burning candle about 30 miles away, provided you have a flat land and a clear horizon.

Imagine that perfect circumstance.

In contrast to that hypothetical flat land, a life can be a rugged terrain.
Every choice is made and every inaction is an action with a weathering outcome, shaping our characteristic formations.
Splintering fault lines begin to appear as our decisional plates shift under the surface of our appearance to others.
There are unending waterfalls of thoughts and emotions; they can refresh you or they can drown you.
Unexpected cliffs hang over the crags of uncertainty, regret, anxiety and suffering.

Darkness falls suddenly over the land of life, but life does not offer a clear view to a candle in the distance.

Despite all this, light in life is closer than you think.

Light is seen through the people all around you.
The honest smile of another face, hope shared through dreams and aspirations — those are flames that shine brighter than any candle. The best part is that those are just minute examples of all the bright experiences we are blessed to have.

We should realize that while the horizon that is the future will often be unclear, the Light in each and every one of us is never extinguished. It grows as we cherish one another, share love and fellowship, and care about the needs of others above our own.

This little light of mine... It's yours too.
The simple question only you can answer now is this:
How bright will it burn?

I once wondered if I would ever have a Bryson Tiller moment...
That “I'm back and I'm better" vibe.
In hindsight, I think, “Wait, I've woken up every morning, right?
Shouldn't I start by thanking God that I'm even alive?"

“Tomorrow never comes", some say.
“Live everyday like it's your last."
Well I agree that we live in today,
But I will not let my future regret its past.

Take every mistake, every moment you wish that was not,
And look at it in a different light.
If you had not walked down that path
You could have suffered a more dangerous plight.

At times its the decisions we don't make that matter most,
For they shape what could have been.
What's more important is whether what was not
Would have been a blessing or a sin.

She walks down the gravel road
looking into the crisp burning sun
hearing the blue blushing waves
rolling from the gulf to the Florida shore

I wish I had melatonin to match my melanin.
Dark waves of sleep for a weary body.
It would wash over me in a calming tide.
Cleanse my body and reset my mind.

But where is that tide of rest?
Did it ebb away when I thought it would flow?
It will come soon enough, but I must be patient.
I must not try.
If I do, I will certainly fail and drown in a cognizant current.

Sleep will probably be the only story of effortless success I get tell to my children.
“Kids... I slept once. Like a baby. It was the summer of '16 and it was utterly forgettable", I'll say.

But that story must be for some other day.

I wonder if God
    sees our numbered
breaths, how many
     have been & how
many are left,
millions of digits
    shifting above
our heads;
the old woman
 on the park bench
        with just 500 left. 
The jogger with 100
   between now &
        tonight when he
will exhale
     for a final time.
I should scale mountains,
         stare at the sun
  make my amount
  count, every last one.