Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

A single drop of water creates a ripple in the pond,

And the ripple resonates through the waters

I used to think that my efforts were only that of a single drop

And compared to the many seas and oceans across the world,

I was nothing

I was small and insignificant,

Useless and meaningless

So why try when it won’t matter in the end?

Then the enlightenment dawned on me

And I saw God

I heard His voice loud and clear,

“Let there be light,” He exclaimed,

And there was light

The sun had risen

And there was light

I was so lost in the darkness that I didn’t realize how blinded I was by it

And with the rising sun,

With the power of His command,

I saw that I was not just a single drop, I was not a pond,

But an ocean

There is a myth that if one holds a seashell to their ear,

They can hear the sound of the ocean,

But the truth is that the sound you hear when you place a seashell next to your ear

Is not the ocean but the sound of your blood flowing through your veins

But maybe what the myth is trying to say is that there is a vast ocean inside of you,

And like the deep sea,

Has only been discovered from the surface

With treasures yet to be found

And beautiful things hidden deep within

It’s easy to drown

It’s easy to get drowned by our own thoughts

Or get pulled back by an anchor,

The burden of the world dragging us down

And it’s hard to swim,

But there’s a little fish inside of us that tells us to “just keep swimming”

So just keep swimming

And soon you will reach the surface and see the light

And it will all be worth it

The whirlpools, the hurricanes, the storms

It will all have been worth it

And your tears will resonate through the seas

Like the single drop in the pond,

The drop that didn’t realize it was an ocean,

That it did matter,

That although small, it made a difference all the same as that a bigger body of water would

Because every ocean, every sea, is made up of small drops of water,

And one missing drop makes this big body of water less of an ocean

And if me waking up everyday will help someone realize this,

Will help someone realize who they are,

Will motivate others to keep going despite being dragged down by anchors and tidal waves,

Will keep someone alive,

Then I will wake up early every morning,

 And I will be the seashell that tells you that “you made it,”

Because your blood is still surging within you

And your heart is still beating like the waves crashing against the shore

And you’re here,

You and I are both here,

Because we didn’t give up,

We didn’t stay underwater waiting to drown,

We rose above it

There are people around the world that have never seen the ocean

So stay,

Stay and show these people

Stay and show the world

What beauty they have yet to see

And as long as you stay

I will have more than enough reasons to wake up

And stay as well