In the quiet of the morning…

I am not a morning person by nature.  But I want to be.  Here in the south, especially during the summer, mornings are the best time of the day.  The weather is cool in the early mornings, and it’s just the way I like it. There is something about a cool temperature that affects my mood.  I can not really explain it, but when it’s so hot and sticky and humid here in the south I am miserable.  Last year even our local pool was like taking a bath in bath water.  It was ridiculously warm, and never really cooled off.  The temps stay warm even through the evening here in the summer, and so early mornings are my only time of relief.  Up north, you could count on the weather cooling off at night, and a neighbor and I would visit back and forth to our houses, checking out our flower gardens over a glass of ice water. 

So, all that to say, I am determined to be more of a morning person this summer.  It’s quiet, and peaceful and I’d love to get a morning workout done on my recumbent bike before my day even begins.  I’m just hoping the night owl part of me relents and actually let’s me fall asleep!

This morning I had some time to reflect while listening to the rain out my window.  There is something so peaceful about rain.  It’s like it takes all the dirt of the world and gently washes it away. 

God does that with me too.  He wants to take those parts of me that are not benefitting me, that are weighing me down, and He wants to gently wash them away. 

But I cling so tightly to the familiar.  It’s my security blanket.  Half the time life is so crazy and fast paced that those “things” are like second nature to me.  My life begins running on auto-pilot, and I’m running so fast and so sporadically that it’s like dodging raindrops.  Never allowing the rain to really hit me.  In doing so, I never recognize how dry I am, or how thirsty I’ve become. 

But in the quiet when I have a moment to slow down, and think and reflect…. I can step back outside of my world and readjust my focus.  I can look up and listen to God.  It’s only by slowing down and allowing myself to be still, that I can allow God to gently wash away the grime.  And while that gentle rain is falling, it’s also watering a very parched soul.