Imagine the world at night covered in lights. Strings of lights dangling from hooks on every heart. Now imagine a normal day in New York City, the bustling of the subways and taxis. Imagine all the lines being crossed and attached to each other. I want you to see all of these strings getting stuck on each other and intertwining. I want you to think about all of the burned out lights needing to be changed and replaced. If you're anything like me, I think that every light needs to be saved.

I could never throw away a poor light bulb, no matter how tiny the light it emits. As we grow older, our number of light bulbs increase. Every light bulb is a new day, with the power and the light to change a life. The light bulbs are like the balls from the emotions movie. We are not just white lights meant to sit and look pretty. We are multi-color light bulbs, each color meaning something different. Each day of our life, the events we go through and emotions that come with each even change the color of the bulb.

We are plugged in the day we are born and unplugged the day we die. Although our light may disappear and fade into the background, our light will never be gone. Our light is in our spirit. You attract people to your light like the bugs to a blue light zapper. I don't know if you've ever heard the saying, " flowers are pretty and so are Christmas lights and they look nothing alike." We are those flowers and Christmas lights. We all look different and yet we are all the most beautiful creatures on earth.

The light we emit is so beautiful and so strong that it is impossible for anyone to try and stay away. When two lights combine, the light emitted is even brighter. The colors made when those two lights combine show the creation of a new life, a new story, and a new purpose. A new strand is made when a major change comes in our life and everything we know is altered beyond recognition.

We are bulbs, not plastic replaceable bulbs, but delicate glass bulbs that are irreplaceable. Every light has a purpose, every light and every day is needed. If one bulb before goes out or turns black, then the other strands and bulbs struggle to turn on. I want you to think about how beautiful a light is. I want you to think about the feeling you get when you sit in the dark with only Christmas lights on, that safe and loving feeling. That is you as a light. When people see you, they get that feeling and they recognize just how beautiful you are. You were made beautiful.

What makes the light beautiful is the amount that is shining through. Whether you want to admit it or not, you have some dead bulbs in your strand. I do, I have so many, I'm surprised the strand still works. It is impossible to not have any dead bulbs, they are part of what is beautiful about you. It's okay to not always shine the brightest in the room. No one wants to be constantly blinded, it's exhausting and bad for your eyes. Don't be afraid to turn on your strand, someday someone will see yours as the brightest.

While this analogy may be far off, imagining that we are strands of lights and not humans, is so true. I think that it's important to know that you shine in all darkness and light. You shine within your own darkness and you make way for others in theirs. You don't have to always be on full blast, you can dim your lights as much as you want depending on how you feel. Remember to shine bright not like a diamond, but like a light. Be the light that guides the way.