THE SECRET OF THE MORNING

Some of us bought the book "Secrets of the Secret Place" by Bob Sorge last week. Mark had already read it and recommended it, but we can't use it as a small group resource since you're only supposed to read one chapter a week (rereading the same chapter daily) and that would take a YEAR.


So I've decided to do it my way. I'm just going to choose a few parts of it to read every day, looking at the titles in the index and seeing what grabs me. Today I loved the chapter titled "The Secret of the Morning."


I LOVE the morning! I'm definitely a morning person and enjoy my quiet time with God EARLY, maybe because that's the only time my mind is clear and uncluttered. I'm also big on sunrises and that first cup of black coffee with those little chocolate chewy calcium thingys. (OK, the chocolate thingys are a BIG draw, I admit.)


Anyway, Bob Sorge wasn't dogmatic that our quiet time HAD to be in the morning, but he DID point out that David and Jesus both modelled that for us.


He had some interesting thoughts on what it meant when David wrote, "Early I will seek you" (Psa. 63:1). He said "early" could mean these three things:


1. I will seek him early in life, when I am young.


2. I will seek him early on when problems first surface instead of coming to Him after exhausting all my other options.


3. I will seek Him early in the day.


It's a little late for me to do the first (unlike most of you, my bloggerbuddy friends), but I wanna do the second and third!


This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. I listened to my playlist of SLOW worship music on my iPod until 4:30, and then got up and started the coffeepot and sat down to read the Bible (I finally got caught up from the days I missed last week), and I also read two or three chapters in the book. And of course I drank two cups of coffee and ate my limit of chewy thingys (which is 3).


At 6:00 Joe got up, and from then until 7:30 the TV was yelling at me (TVs are so RUDE that way!), so I mopped the floor, loaded the dishwasher, emptied the trash cans and put away laundry. I also went out and sat on the porch swing part of the time and watched Mende (Mark and Lisa's dog) poop. (Is that TMI?)


Sometime around 7:30 I climbed in Joe's truck and he took me to Lamar and dropped me off (he was going to Hardees, of course), and I ran the back roads home ( 3 1/2 miles) listening to my playlist of PEPPY worship music, which took 46 minutes.


So I was home by about 8:15, the house was in good shape, and my whole day was a blank slate! Joe's at Alma playing golf, the TV is silent, the AC is off, the doors and windows are open, my light box is on, and I'm REVELING in hours and hours of quietness (except for the sounds of rain), perfect for thinking and reading and blogging and emailing friends and praying!


That doesn't happen every day. Tomorrow after I run I've got to go to my hairdresser (which takes a couple of hours), take my mother to lunch (we're going to Spring's coffeehouse!), take Mother to HER beauty shop, go to the bank, and shop (my least favorite activity) at the dreaded Wal-Mart.


But for today, this is really nice. Maybe TOO nice and you're wishing you could have just ONE quiet day EVER. I promise, life passes very very fast, and your empty nest and retirement days will come before you know it!!!