beauty from the outside in

This morning at work I was talking with this guy about the weekend. Among other things, he slept from 1:30 am Sunday morning until Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm.  "What! You lost an entire day!"  First, I don't know how this is even possible...I can barely sleep in 'til 8:30 am, if I'm lucky.  But secondly, this conversation led to a discussion on being a light sleeper vs. a deep sleeper.

I commented on how for the last two days, my roommate and I have woken up to sun shining in our room. It's glorious!  A pleasant change from the morning fog.  He said that his blinds are always closed to keep it extremely dark, and that's why he can sleep in so late.  He went on to say, "I can't ever leave my blinds open because I live in town and people can just walk right up to my window...and they'll see my TV, my X-box..."

He may have made some other comments, but I don't remember.  My brain started going crazy.  Your blinds are ALWAYS closed?  Even in the daytime? Oh, you are missing out on so, so much.

MAYBE not everyone is affected by the weather as I am, but I have a hard time believing that.  

Yesterday I took a decently long bike ride.  All by my lonesome, but I didn't feel lonesome in the slightest.  The sun was shining.  I was riding through the hills, through brown wheat fields, through green winter wheat fields. Snow capped the tips of the mountains while flowers poked up out of the ground in my valley.  Birds sang, bugs flew into my face. Farmers plowed fresh dirt to the surface of their fields and horses ran alongside me as I rode.  (OK, maybe the horses were just staring at me.)  I felt alive! For the first time since, well, probably since last weekend.  But the point is: I felt even more alive because the sun was shining.  You couldn't have wiped the smile off my face.  Nature, life, was happening!

I get a little bit of this feeling, this life, this energy, every morning when the sun shines in my room.  I even sing a little bit, it makes me SO happy.  I feel like some of the beauty from nature outside can shine into my room. This morning's conversation with this guy made me thankful for the way, and the place where I've grown up.  I've never lived in town. I've never owned an X-box, and I've never owned a TV anybody would want to steal.  It makes me wonder, Is it more important to protect these silly possessions, or to live a little each morning as the sun shines in through the window?  I feel a little hypocritical saying this, because I own nice things too.  Maybe I'm just blessed for never having lived in a place where I felt unsafe.

I'm still not sure how to think about this.  But I know I am blessed.  And I know he's certainly missing out on something when he lives in his darkened room.  The sunshine!

PS:  Everyone should get the chance to ride a bike in the country.