The sun rises early, and I rub my crusty eyes. Another week begins. While stumbling out of bed and into the shower, I’m hardly conscience enough to wonder how the week will go. As the water hits my bare skin and shocks the life back into my sleepy body, I still don’t wonder. My mind has yet to wake up. It’s still on the start up screen, taking it’s time like a Windows machine. Random and scattered thoughts come through, leftovers from the night before. It’s not until I sit down at breakfast that my brain really begins to work. I take in a mouthful of that precious orange juice, and I know that life is good.

So what will this coming week hold? Untold joys, amazing secrets, deafening sorrows? Who knows. But as I look out the window, and see the crisp blue sky, and the reaching branches of the naked trees–I know all is right. Someone is in control, and I can handle anything.

So as I plop down in that first class, and the tiredness begins to come back, and I’m quickly reminded of the pressing assignments, do I slump my head and let sorrow conquer my face? Or do I remember the warm sun and the gentle breeze? Do I remember to stop and breathe? Do I remember that life is precious and worth living? And worth living to the extreme. Enjoying. Few people really live. They let the sorrow conquer them, and they wonder why things are so hard.

No, I don’t do that. I sit there with my stupid smile. I shake the sleepiness off. I laugh at my professor’s jokes. I appreciate his humanity. I thank God for life. I make my day worth living. And so many hours later, when it’s time to let my body tumble into bed and sleep, I’ll have the joy of knowing that this day wasn’t wasted. This day was cherished. Like that tall glass of orange juice, every minute and every hour of this day was savored.

Don’t let anything take that away from you.