I typically get up at 4:30 in the morning so I can read my Bible and pray while the house is quiet and the whippoorwills are just beginning their morning song. {Please don’t think I’m a hero or anything. I try to go to bed by 8:30, because I do LOVE sleep. Most of you night owls are just beginning your evening at that point!}
I have gradually trained myself to get up this early because it helps me feel better prepared for the day. And just so you know, for me, the secret to actually getting up is to literally RUN out of my bedroom as soon as I turn off the alarm clock. If I stand and think for a minute, I will almost always end up climbing back under the warm covers for a few extra minutes of sleep. Then I end up late to work, flustered, frustrated, and maybe even a little bit cranky. Or a lot.
Not a good plan.
Picture me sitting in a wooden rocking chair in our sunroom wearing my pajamas and red robe, coffee cup in hand, feet propped up on the heater, hair askew, glasses perched crookedly on my nose…
Early morning truly is one of my favorite times of day. I get to spend time in God’s Word, pray about whatever is on my heart, and focus on what is going to happen in the day ahead. I keep a list of prayer requests in a notebook, so I am never short on ideas. Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by the number of things that need to be lifted up in prayer. But I just try to be faithful in praying for the requests I know about, and I cross off the items as the Lord takes care of them.
One morning last week, I RAN out of the bedroom, made my coffee, and had just sat down in the rocking chair to open my Bible when a little boy {I’ll call him Bradley} opened the door and tiptoed in.
“I want to snuggle you,” he said, rubbing his eyes in the bright light.
“Go in and snuggle with YaYa, please, so I can read my Bible,” I answered back. {YaYa is my mom, by the way. My nephew called her YaYa when he was little, and she has been YaYa ever since!}
Big tears filled his eyes, his lip quivered, as he tried to hold it in and be a “big boy.”
“But I want you.”
He hung his head and went back in the house.
I opened my Bible and had not read one word when God and I argued.
“Go back in,” He spoke to my heart.
“But, God, if I go back in, I won’t get to read my Bible, and the day will be a mess,” I answered.
“It’s worth it,” He whispered back.
I should be clear. It’s not that I didn’t want to snuggle. Snuggling is another favorite part of my day. I love holding that little boy. I love smelling his hair as he buries his head in my chest. I love his wiggly little feet. I love his big, fat kisses on my cheek.
And I know there will come a time when he won’t want to be held as much.
But I also want God.
I crave that time with Him, just as much as snuggling with my kiddo, in fact more.
“Go back in,” God said again.
So I closed my Bible, went back in the house, and climbed in bed with YaYa and Bradley. He snuggled close, putting his hand on my cheek, kissing me.
“We are all sleeping with YaYa,” he said happily.
“Do you know why I came back in,” I asked him.
“Why,” he asked back.
“Because I love you,” I said, “and I want you to know it.”
“I know it,” he answered.
No, my day didn’t go as planned. But that little guy knows he matters—and that I will always come for him when he needs me.
God says the same of us.
He says we matter. He says He will always show up. He says He will always come for us when we need Him.
The more we seek after Him, the more we align our lives with Him, the more we see.
{ 5 comments }
