I Also Love Mornings

I love the fresh feeling of a new day. Once I get out of bed, stretch, do my exercise hour or so, I get to look at the day. It is a new beginning. To me, every day is a new beginning in God. It is when my body is most alert, when many things seem possible. I love the time before the day gets filled with phone calls and demands on my time. In winter, I enjoy sitting with a (hopefully--when I'm feeling I want to be healthy) bowl of oatmeal and thinking/talking to God (and listening) about my day to come. When it's warmer out, sometimes I like a 7 am walk around my apartment complex and neighboring church. I get to look at nature, and pray for those who live on my "beat." Sometimes, like today, I get to write.

Lord, please help me continue to develop the habit of gratefulness--and noticing the simple things You've put here for me to enjoy. Bring reminders when I'm too lazy to get up early enough to enjoy--or too tired because of my unwise (often too much TV) choices the night before. Grant me the grace to be wise about what activities I take on and don't take on. Remind me that "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven," (Ecclesiastes), and let me remember that not only don't I have to, but it isn't always appropriate to do all the things I want. There are seasons, and I need to continue to learn to appreciate the season I'm in. When life is over here, I want to be able to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant," and I know if I don't remember what's important in each season, I can't hear that.

Thank You for today--for the birds outside my window, for the promise of hope after a dark, stormy night. I pray for those who were hurt by the spring storms that swept across the land yesterday. Please help them and lead them to what they need. Give them grace and encouragement--and may they find You in a more real, vibrant, living way as they deal with things. Isn't that the point of everything anyway? Love you, Lord. Barb