Spring 2023 has sprung in Broken Arrow, OK

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The Morning View!


It looks like I’ve got another breakfast story to share with you!  Once again, as I was helping my wife with her breakfast today, I suddenly found myself singing to her by changing the focus of the Keith Green song that was playing on our Pandora feed.  Instead of a worship song unto the Lord, I scooted up close to Piper and sang “You are the One (for me!)” as a love song to my sweetie… I mean… its not like she could argue with me!  I had a captive audience… and yea… I know that its corny… but then again, how many of you husbands out there sing love songs to your wife in the morning?

I don’t think that the Lord saw it as a sacrilege either, as He gets all the glory for my wife anyway!  But as I sang the song again, I looked up and outside our sliding window to the tall trees that line our yard and couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with the goodness of God.  I suddenly had to stop singing to Piper and simply praise the Lord.  And even though it was a bit overcast at that moment, I felt His presence in the quiet, still, fresh morning that seemed to surround our home.

A little while later I stood on the patio while Fiver did his morning thing and continued to enjoy the clean cool morning air that enveloped me.  I don’t know what it is about the morning, but its like I can hardly wait to go outside first thing each day no matter if its 20 degrees or less in the winter, 90 with 90% humidity in the summer or a sweet northern California-ish 65 or 70 degrees in the fall and spring.  I just think that God made mornings special!

The wisdom books in the Old Testament (Job – Song of Solomon) talk about mornings some 32 times.  Psalm 5:3 states that “In the morning, O Eternal One, listen for my voice, in the day’s first light, I will offer my prayer to you and watch expectantly for Your answer.” (The Voice)  To me, this verse and others like it, encourages Believers to spend time with the Lord at the beginning of each day.  The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible says “…O Jehovah, I will set myself for You in the morning, and I will look up.” 

I like that idea of us setting ourselves before Him first thing, while we are fresh and unencumbered, before we find ourselves being taken away by the activities of our daily lives.  This is something I have done for many years now, in fact I can’t conceive of starting a day without first spending time with Papa God in prayer, praise and the Word.

I understand that each of us have different lives and have to arrange our time with Him to best fit our schedules.  In my last position as a merchandising supervisor with Home Depot I had to be to work at 5:00 AM each day.  And for six months I had to drive south of San Francisco on most of those days to cover the southern stores in our district.  This meant that I had to be on the road by around 3:30.  So in order to get some Word in each day, I went to bed around 8:00 in the evening and got up near 2:00 the next morning.

Now, with Piper’s current medication schedule and the lack of regular sleep I get, it is very difficult to get up too much before I get her up, so I’ve made a few adjustments and pray and praise before her breakfast and then study the Word after she eats and doses off, before I prepare my own meal.  This way I still get to enjoy the morning quiet while I have my daily adventures in the Word of God!

I write all this as an encouragement to each of you.  Do you need any changes in your life?  Well then, start them off by changing your schedule with a new priority of daily moments of communication with our heavenly Father.  Our two sons are following a daily Bible reading schedule through their YouVersion Bible apps.  They joined a small online group and even though they live some 1800 miles apart, one in California and the other in Oklahoma, they can share notes, thoughts and ideas about what they have studied that day.  Pretty cool, wouldn’t you say! 

Like I’ve said before, there are many ways and methods to study the Word.  Check them out and find one that works for you… Then go on a daily adventure with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost that will strengthen, encourage, teach and inspire you with a firm foundation for each and every day!

You know… I was thinking while I was preparing my breakfast today, that one of the unexpected roles I’ve found myself in during this journey we’ve been on with Piper’s health, has been to be a carrier of joy and faith.  I never realized that in order to protect our faith and encourage others, that I many times have had to be the encourager and the one to lift other people beyond their fears and looks of hopelessness when Piper and I have been with extended family, at the store or even at the various doctor’s appointments. 

But I couldn’t do it without my daily re-charge in God’s Word!  For the picture I see everyday in His Word is always greater and longer lasting than any other picture I may see throughout the rest of my day! 

Go ahead… give it a try and I bet that you’ll never be the same again!

Have a super rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Whose picture am I expecting to SEE each day?”

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