Last week, as I was taking a wonderful winter walk with my sweet William, I realized it’s been a year since we moved back. Here just in time to see winter’s tail end and reluctant departure, order our maple syrup (very important), and watch spring come to the beautiful property we’d just purchased.
And now I’ve watched four seasons from these windows. They’ve all been breathtaking in their simple beauty.
What I’m most struck by, though, is the opportunity I’ve had to watch a whole year of new days — seeing the sun rise earlier, later; sparkling off of July’s wet dew and January’s diamonds of snow; crimson and clear, and barely perceptible through a sky of heavy cloud. But every day, day after day, a new morning coming, bringing beauty and mercy all its own.
Still, despite the beauty, and despite being a life-long morning-lover, there are days I fail to notice. There are mornings when I wake up with a hangover from life — worry, discouragement, exhaustion, worry, annoyance, a general feeling of being beat up by the devil, worry…
Something Ryan said to one of my sisters a few weeks ago stirred something inside of me. Speaking of an expectation for God to move in our lives, “‘What if today’s the day?’ We can live with that faith-attitude.”
And at breakfast a few days later, as the boys and I sat holding hands, ready to pray and “officially” start our day, I looked out at a brilliant new day and realized, I really can begin each day wondering, by faith, What does God want to do? What miracles does He want to work in our lives? What change does He want to affect? How does He want to use our simple actions and words to impact one another in profound ways? What prayers does He want to answer — prayers for people we know and love, prayers for children and places across the world?
Every single morning, God is on His throne. There have been some mornings in my life that led to days of really, really bad news. Even on those days, God is on His throne. Those morning, whether I knew it or not, grace was being poured out in extra measure, ready to catch me, us, ready to hold when worlds crumbled.
Most mornings in my life have led to just, well, just days. Days when it would be easy for mercy and grace to go unnoticed, for expectations to be at a bare minimum, for the hangovers of life to leave us slumped and defeated.
But every single morning, God is on His throne. And every single morning, because our souls have a hard time remembering, He causes a blazing orb of fire to rise out of darkness, consuming every shadow with its light.
I want to stop and marvel at its warmth, its glorious colors, the beauty it brings to the earth. But mostly, I want to remember that this new day is an opportunity to welcome the rule and reign of Christ in my life — to yield to His beautiful plan and lift my face expectantly, ready to see (and be a part of) what He wants to do.