"Morning has broken like the first morning, blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for them, springing fresh from the Word!
Sweet the rain's new fall sunlit from heaven, like the first dewfall on the first grass, Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, sprung in completeness where God's feet pass.
Ours is the sunlight! Ours is the morning born of the one light Eden saw play! Praise with elation, praise every morning, God's recreation, of the new day!"
Morning. A gift of this time when I am not working full-time is luxuriating in the morning. Most days, I don't have anywhere I have to be at a certain time. At home, I sit in the sunroom to read, to think, and sometimes to write. If it is nice, I open the windows to hear the birds and smell the freshness of the trees and grass. Here in Montpellier, I sit in the living room, looking out the tall windows to the (usually) blue sky over the stone building with its tile roof. From here, I can't see trees or grass; I have to get dressed and go outside and down the street. But I can hear birds, and voices of people who are out and about, and often the street sweeper or garbage collectors.
However you spend your mornings, they can be a time to set an intention for the day. Perhaps not something to accomplish, although that may be necessary, but an intention for how to live in this new day. Will we greet it with curiosity and openness, breathing in all that is has to offer? Or will we shut the windows and hunker in beneath our blankets? Do we feel brave, or vulnerable? Will we care for others, or do we need others to care for us?
Often in our busyness we don't take the time to let morning do its work on us. Because it comes every day, we fail to recognize the miracle of it and the gift that it is. Even when we are in the same place day after day, each day has new potential to be different than the day before. You may have plans for the day, but that does not mean that you know exactly how the day will unfold. In that way, each day is like a life unto itself. God's re-creation of the new day. "Behold, I am making all things new!"
