Morning People

I’ve always been a morning person.

I love morning and fresh coffee and a new day.

I really love getting up before everyone else, spending time with Jesus and getting grounded in Him before the day gets crazy and busy.

But, since we’ve been in Africa, I REALLY love mornings.

And so do my girls. I think, secretly… Jeremy too.

No really… I think it’s true. Because days are HARD here.

Exhausting.

Take everything you have and more.

By evening we crash. Hide in our mosquito netting and crash. Spent. Tired. Unmoving.

Completely used up physically, mentally, relationally and even spiritually.

And not just the tiredness, when darkness falls… things seem worse. Things seem unproportionally wrong. Things get harder and more stressful. Everything seems just a little bit more scary. more overwhelming.

The girls were feeling it and I hadn’t even said anything to them about how tired Jeremy and I were each night. Maybe they could sense it.

Maybe they felt it just as strongly.

Elayna said quietly one night, “Mommy I like Africa in the day but I don’t think I like it at night.”

Oh, baby… Mommy knows.

*Insert Annie singing “The sun will come up tomorrow…”

So we pray. We sing. Seriously singing “God is Bigger than the Boogie Man” and “My God is So BIG” on repeat each night before the little girls could sleep.

But morning, when the beautiful sun comes up… and the frogs quit croaking so loud so we can hear and enjoy the birds chirping…

I feel like another Anne, Anne Shirley and say to myself, “Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.”

With morning… we all sigh.

We breathe in Lamentations 3:22-23 that says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.”

Fresh. New. No mistakes. And God is faithful. Knowing His goodness will prevail over our day.

Prayed up and powered up to face whatever comes our way.

That is a fabulous way to start another day, yes?