The only time where I actually do get an extra hour to my day. I love that feeling- the feeling when I wake up, afraid maybe I slept in, and then worriedly looking at the clock only to see.....YAHOO! It isn't late! It is a WHOLE HOUR earlier than it feels! It. is. glorious.
I have never been a morning person. I now get up early because I am a grown-up and I have to. But that doesn't make me a morning person.
Here is the way to tell if someone you are with is a morning person or not. When they are up early, speak to them. Do they answer? If they do then it is possible they are a morning person. But if all you get is a grunt? Then you most definitely are not with a morning person. And if they glare at you? Then you have a grumpy morning person.
Non-morning people do not want to talk in the morning. At least not out loud. I like to talk to Jesus in the morning. And I like to read my Bible. And I LOVE to drink coffee. And I like to write in my journal. In the quiet. But people? Even the ones I love?
I think they have learned that it is better to let me have a little Jesus and a little coffee and THEN talk to me!
The whole morning/non-morning person thing should really be discussed before marriage. It is way more important than finding out if you neatly roll the toothpaste tube up from the bottom or if you squeeze it right in the middle of the tube. About a week into our marriage as my husband was whistling at a early AM hour, an hour where silence should reign, I had a crashing realization....I had married a morning person!
It is okay though. We have managed to navigate the morning waters for almost three decades, so I am here to tell you that the morning and non-morning people can peacefully co-exist!
The Problem
Why all this musings on mornings?
Well, I was thinking back this weekend to some mornings in my not too distant past. Maybe you have had these kind of mornings too. On these mornings it doesn't matter whether you were normally a morning person or not. Because these kinds of mornings are grey and wet and dreary---regardless of what the weather is outside. They are the kind where you don't want to get up, because when you do, you will have to face the day. And sometimes....
Sometimes life is like that. It is hard. It is arduous. It is painful.
Sometimes life just hauls off and punches you in the gut and you are totally unprepared.
Sometimes the rug is pulled out from underneath you and you find yourself sprawled on the floor.
Sometimes you go to sleep at night and hope that when you wake up tomorrow you will find out it was all just a bad dream.
But then you wake up.
And you realize it wasn't a bad dream.
And you have to get out of the bed and face it.
But you just don't want to.
Maybe you are waking up to:
- shattered dreams
- or a family in crisis
- or a job you detest
- or no money in the bank
- or terminal illness
- or just a life that has turned out so decidedly different than your dreams.
What do you do then?
The Cure
If I hadn't had any of those kinds of mornings I wouldn't have had to find the antidote.
But I have.
So I did.
Find the cure that is. And, what do you know. It was in the place all cures are.
The Word. First I will share the Scripture and then I will share the cure.
Lamentation 3:22: The Lord's loyal kindness never ceases; His compassions never end. They are fresh every morning; Your faithfulness is abundant!
Psalm 92:1-2: It is fitting to thank the Lord, and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! It is fitting to proclaim Your loyal love in the morning, and your faithfulness during the night.
Psalm 5:3: Lord, in the morning you will hear me; in the morning I will present my case to you and then wait expectantly for an answer.
The Prescription?
- Realize as soon as I wake up that the Lord had fresh kindness and fresh compassion for me THIS VERY DAY.
- Thank the Lord out loud for this day and proclaim to myself His loyal love.
- Sing praises to my God.
- Present to God my case...my issue...my problem...or just the fact that I don't really want to rise and face the day.
- Get dressed (that one isn't in these Scriptures, but it is a very essential part of facing the day.)
- Get going. And wait. Get going with whatever I can do but wait expectantly for God's answer to the problem.
- Praise God that I don't have to solve anything. I just have to wait on Him to do it for me!
The Result
The result is that I get out of the bed and find God's kindness and compassion enough.
Enough to get me through the day.
Enough to enable me to thank Him and sing praises to Him.
Enough to empower me to walk through whatever the day brings.
Enough to wait. To wait on Him. To wait on Him for the answer- to whatever.
And that makes every morning a good morning.
Because it is a morning where, before I ever rise, I can receive my Lord's fresh kindness, put my hand in His Hand, and Get. Out. Of. Bed.
One may experience sorrow at night.
But joy arrives in the morning.
Ps. 30:5
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