Early in the Morning

"I enjoy sunrise and early mornings. I just wish they weren't so early."

That was a head-scratching statement a friend made several years ago. And yes, I do enjoy getting up early. However, as I've begun battling 'health issues', with nameless unidentifiable symptoms, my days and nights get mixed up. Gone are the days I'd go to bed at midnight or later, and get up at six A.M.

A few years ago in my studies I came across a verse in Psalms that translated into a Psalm I could relate to:

Psalms 55:17 "Evening, and morning, and at noonday, will I complain, and moan; And he will hear my voice."

(ASV)

I had a lot of chuckles out of that verse. I know I'm not supposed to 'murmur and/or complain', and in the King James translation it is rendered: 'will I pray, and cry aloud'.

Far too many times I find it a flaw in my nature to complain without first taking it to the Lord in prayer. I'm sure that 'I will pray and cry aloud' is the more accurate meaning behind the phrase. As we should -utter or cry in prayer- our petition or grievance, laying it before God.

I do enjoy the early morning. In the spring I can sit on our deck and listen to the renewing of the season. The birds are singing their joyful song, laying their eggs and feeding their young. In the summer things relax into the warm summer days like the song says, 'Summer time and the living is easy', the duties pressing upon the whole earth of bringing to fruition bud, flower, and young 'uns and preparing for autumn and the next generation. The birds and many animals in autumn are flying to their winter homes. Squirrels and other creatures are stocking their pantries for the winter.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 "There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God."

I think the take away here is thankfulness. That and remember to first lay your petition before the Lord in prayer and supplication.

Psalms 90:14 "Oh satisfy us in the morning with thy lovingkindness, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days."