Mornings. The absolute BEST time of day. A new beginning. A fresh start. So much to look forward to. So many plans. So much to experience. New songs to sing. New beauty to find. New ways to learn. New love to give. New faces to meet. New hearts to connect.

Such delicious anticipation.

Mornings. Sometimes the TOUGHEST time of day. Today it brings pain. Every single thing hurts. Every joint is stiff. The weakness. The weariness. The headache. The nausea. The roaring in my ears. It’s ridiculously loud today – can no one else hear this? Really??

Plans are changed.

So … mornings like these are my reality. They can happen at any time. They’re very rude the way they butt in and disrupt my agenda.

Today it feels especially rude. It’s a gorgeous day. My tangled mess of a garden, though, will have to wait for my putterings. The shopping, the errands … all the fun things I wanted to do on this day off … they probably won’t happen now.

Because I have to rest instead. Again.

So … what do I do when mornings like these happen?

Well … I’ll tell you what I want to do: I want to just get back in bed and curl up in a ball, but that would just hurt. I want to cry and complain. I want to mope around and be depressed. I want to be angry and rant that it’s just not fair. I want to do all of these things. I really, really do.

Okay, so maybe I HAVE done all of these things already this morning, but now I’m done. Really.

Because God meets me there – in that miserable place. He grabs hold of me. Tightly. He reminds me that his ways are higher than mine. His plans for me are perfect – they’re full of hope and love and a beautiful future.

He reminds me that every morning – no matter how I feel – is still a new beginning. Still a fresh start. With so many plans. So much to experience. New songs to sing. New beauty to find. New ways to learn. New love to give. New faces to meet. New hearts to connect. So much to look forward to. Such delicious anticipation.

Because it’s from him.

So I get on the floor and I stretch. I stretch every single muscle, I flex every single joint. Through the pain, through the stiffness. I gently just stretch my way through it.

And I realize that’s exactly what he’s doing with me. He’s stretching me out of my stiff, old ways – that old self-sufficient mindset that’s been chasing me around my whole life – and he’s teaching me to trust his ways instead. 

Thanks for growing with me. ❤

“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” – Psalm 53