Morning, Glory!

By day the Lord directs his love,
    at night his song is with me--
    a prayer to the God of my life.
~ Psalm 42:8
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It has been a long weekend, and I have to admit, there is some comfort that it is Monday morning.  I'm sitting here, working on my schedule for the coming week, thinking about some of the things I experienced over the weekend, and feeling a sense of accomplishment!

Not all mornings are like this.  I have often wondered what Jesus' routine looked like, and then realize, that each day was filled with many things, and many people with all kinds of needs. 

I remember my days in school.  Mornings were filled with getting up, feeding livestock, catching the bus on time, and then making sure that everything was ready for class.  

As a parent with a newborn, there was then the midnight feedings, sometimes getting hardly any sleep, balancing work and family, and making sure that all priorities were being met.

Even now, as the kids are grown and starting their own families, there are still daily chores around the house, animals to be cared for, and of course, trying to get them all completed while traveling around the city visiting patients.

One thing that remains constant through all of these life-chapters is the need to sleep, and the need to rise and start the day.

While I think of Jesus' days, walking dusty roads, while not necessarily knowing what might be waiting just beyond the next hill, there was also the responsibility of the new lesson, or parable, to share.  The need to find shelter, or the next boat to cross a lake.  I really have no idea how Jesus managed to keep the twelve who followed happy, and of course, we know that this simply didn't always happen.

The times that Jesus felt the need to go off and pray were really the only times when Jesus had time alone.

One thing that I have had to create a discipline of doing is taking time each day to stop, write these paragraphs, and seek out a way to start the morning, acknowledging the morning.. glory!

What do you do for yourself?  This is something that I ask every new patient that I meet, even when they are in their last days.  Even at the end of life, as well as throughout all our seasons, finding time to recognize the morning.. glory, is something that we can all do.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2018