This morning the air smelled like nutella & I sweated out every liquid in my body at Zumba, so you could say that life was good today. And the days, they are good, but if there is one thing I love about Tennessee it is those summer nights. I experienced catching my first fireflies in a homemade mason jar. I realize to you Southern folk that I am about ten years behind, but have mercy on me. I watched them dance around the jar, flashing quickly, and I became enthralled in this event for the first time. I mean, is that amazing or what? Bugs that exhibit light like tangible stars. 

And then I started wondering why they simply flashed? Why they would show their light for a second only to hide it again? And you could google it and find out why, but just let me believe there is some sort of significance there. I imagine they are afraid that if they flash for too long, someone might take advantage of what they produce. Or maybe they are afraid that we might get so used to the light and forget they are bugs; living, breathing arrangements of atoms. After all, how would we know light, if it was constant? We know light because we know the absence of light and therefore light is good. 

But what is so funny to me is how much they fascinate me, and how much of a staple they are in the southern child. I guess unknowingly we are all thirsting for light. 

So I caught my own in a jar, and I set it on my bedside table, and I watched for awhile but they just wouldn’t flash. And I woke up to see if I could sneak up on them but I continued to sit in darkness. And then I shook the jar, and when I did, all seven lit up like a revival had just occurred under my own roof. I guess all they needed was a gentle reminder.

The next day, I woke up to six dead fireflies and one desperately fighting for life. I was feeling pretty inhumane until I learned that many fireflies live for only about 24 hours. And their temporary life reminds me that my one wild precious life will not last forever. Like fireflies, we flash for a moment, but that moment is important so we might as well shine as damn bright as we can. 

Place your ear anywhere you can hear your heart beat & be reminded that the sound you hear entitles you to be that light. To pack light, to live light and to share the light. And in addition, find someone in this world that will shake the jar when you are tired and burnt out, and remind you that the world needs what you have to offer. They need it.