Are mornings hard for you?
They are not generally for me. That is until this new year started.
Maybe it’s the ongoing pandemic.
Maybe it’s the stiff difficulty of winter.
Maybe subconsciously I know that I will not be wearing open toed shoes for at least another 4 months. Whatever the case, staying in bed seems to be my response to all those feelings right now.
Wrapped in my bedding, I feel protected from the cold, dark, and damp.
But what comfort is lying there if I am treating my blankets as weaponry against a false enemy?
I live in Pennsylvania, but I take comfort in what Parker Palmer writes about winter in Wisconsin.
(I know something about this too because I lived there for 18 years.)
“‘The winters will drive you crazy until you learn to get out into them.’If you live here long, you learn that a daily walk into the winter world will fortify the spirit by taking you boldly to the very heart of the season you fear.”
from Let your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
I do not fear mornings. Just lately try to avoid them. But I do need to be fortified, so in spite of my recent reticence to leave the warmth of my bed when the alarm goes, I take these words to heart and boldly get up, making my way downstairs to the brown chair in front of the fire. I do this daily. It has become a habit and that’s the only thing that makes it happen some days. Because it’s a habit, it would feel odd to not show up there in the mornings.
What might I miss?
Recently, I sat there wrapped in my green lap robe gazing out into the dim light trying to come and I felt this request come out of the very heart of me.
God of all days,
Thank you for your presence in this one.
Pull back the curtain.
Reveal what I can handle
Of you - of me.
Hold me in love,
In instructive care,
In wise peace.
Let this otherwise gray day
Be filled with your color and open my eyes to see it.
Amen
May all of your mornings be filled with good habits and boldness to stick with them.