Healing

"Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage,
for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give
thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being
filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting
up."
-Charles H. Spurgeon

I am empty. I am weak. I am hoping in the promise of healing.

Morning

Morning is my favorite time of day. I love everything about it. I love that it's the time that you get to sleep in, snuggled under warm covers, the tip of your nose cold from the autumn air. It's a time to be thankful for a night of rest, and eager for a day of God's glory. I love that it's the time to get up early, to see sunrises, and drink coffee; to sit quietly with the Lord as the day awakens. I even love the food that comes with morning time. Bagels, yogurt, fruit, cereal, eggs, bacon, pancakes, mmmm. I espeically love the phrase "Good Morning." I think it is one of the happiest, friendliest greetings and I wish it could be used all day long.

Lately, however, my mornings have been rushed and that makes me cranky. I wake up before my alarm and almost pray that it's 2 a.m. and not 6:39. I day dream of calling in sick. I wake up tired, my tummy doesn't want the coffee that my brain needs, and I'm bitter at my roommate for getting to sleep in. The shower is warm and soothing and begs me to just stay there all day. I literally console myself in the mornings with a promise of an early bedtime when the day is over. Where is the joy in a fresh day? Why can't I let go of my selfish desire for sleep and rest in the promise that the day has already been ordained. There is joy in the presence of the Lord... why do I focus instead on the busy tasks that lie before me?

"Satisfy [me] in the morning with Your unfailing love, that [I] may sing for joy and be glad all [my] days."
Psalm 90:14

One of the sweetest memories I have of living in Newark this summer is of rooming with the radiantly beautiful Martha Iverson. Every single morning, no matter how late she had stayed up, or how much she had on her to-do list, she woke up with a smile. That is loving life in the truest sense- even when it's difficult to wake up, and even if the morning is rushed. She smiled because her hope was not in her feelings about the day, but in the unfailing love of her Lord.

What would it look like for me to be SATISFIED with the love that the Lord has for me. So much so that I wake up tired and just smile, because I know that the day is spoken for by the beauty of the Cross. Nothing about my frail human condition, even my sin, can get in the way of the purposes of the Lord for the day He has set before me.

"I know that you can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2

May my spirit rest in Truth, and may it ever yield to Thee...