Morning has broken

Mornings have never been my forte.

As a little girl, I remember my father bounding into the room my sister and I shared, crowing songs at the top of his lungs in a rather effective effort to wake us up most mornings. If, by some chance, one stanza of "Morning Has Broken" failed to do the trick (I think my Dad only ever learned the first verse), we would hear "It's Time To Get Up!" repeated in fanatically faster and faster versions until we ruefully relented and dragged ourselves out of bed. Monday mornings meant particularly difficult wakings, as I recall. The warm~and~snuggly factor of your bed is awfully hard to voluntarily discard in favor of the inevitably colder air we face as we begin our groggy morning rituals.

I have friends who are devoted "Morning People". I secretly think they are aliens from Pluto.

However, both my Dad and my Plutonian refugee friends would be proud of me on this individual Monday morning. I was quite anxious to be awake and begin this new, fresh, blank canvas of a week. I woke today significantly before dawn, (which is Guiness-worthy in my life) wanting to carve out deliberate time for prayer and reflection before the endless reels of Noggin TV and Memory Game wash over our house with vigor. Motivating this not~going~to~become~a~habit early rising was the relief I feel at leaving the events of last week behind as a fresh week begins today, while committing never to forget the state of grace and attitude of gratitude in which I am now potently steeped.

I find myself focused today on the rather simple notion that so often gets overlooked as we speed through life. Today is a never~before~seen~in~the~history~of~the~world day. The universe has never before seen another Monday, August 22, 2005. And when midnight strikes, this day will pass into history and never occur again. Today is fresh and unspoiled, awaiting to be created, its legacy written by the choices and actions we make. That inspires me to make the most out of this day and to reinsert the principle of CARPE DIEM into my moments. And to be open to what God would teach me and where He would lead me as I wander through this day.

But make no mistake, no amount of introspection inspires me to make crack~of~dawn wakings any kind of staple around here. 5:00 am is just too doggone early. On Pluto, where is is subzero all the time, I am sure that cold mornings are no big deal. But I just about froze my little tushie off.