The Sounds of waking up
Approximate Reading Time: 3 minutes
Companion Scripture Reading: Psalm 30
Topic: Experience joy as you and others awaken
Key Verse: For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5
Sitting outside in the early morning before everyone and everything is awake is my current favorite part of the day. Well—not everyone and everything is still asleep—there are always those who are earlier risers or night owls. But for the most part, the world is silent, and it is the time between the night creatures scurrying off to their beds and the early birds just waking to the morning sun.
My dad once asked me, “Have you ever even seen a sunrise?” Because I love a good sleep and in my teen years could sleep half the day away if allowed. Most of my life I was a night owl, and still am to an extent-but working for years where start time was 6am and I had an approximately 1 hour commute did not allow for being a night owl much and I learned to appreciate the beauty of a still and quiet morning. I have learned to love the rhythm of waking up as the world awakens around me instead of when it is in its full chaotic mode and jarring you into awareness with everyone else already going full tilt.
Since I seem to be a night owl at heart, I definitely still love an occasional good evening of solitude as the world is tucking itself in. I love the darkness and lack of noise. I love the animals that prefer to creep out at night when the surrounding hustle has silenced and they can go about their business. There is beauty in all of it, and in every season we experience.
I remember one day that had been exceptionally frustrating, and I wandered off to my “sitting rock”—a large rock on the side of the creek behind our house where I occasionally like to sit, listen, and talk to God. It is just far enough away from everything that I can barely—if at all—hear anything except birds, critters, wind, etc.
That is where I sense God and hear Him best—when I am outside in the midst of all He created. On this particularly frustrating day, as I was hoping for some time away from the noises of this world, I sat on my rock and prayed. Soon, in the distance, a tractor rumbles, and my first instinct is to bristle. I simply wanted some time of stillness and quiet. Why, at this moment, did that tractor need to growl through the air?
I prayed. Even going so far as to ask God to give my husband a reason to move on to a different project, just for a little while. But I knew even as I prayed it how selfish that was. God gently whispered to my spirit—”That sound is from nature too. It is from your husband doing what he loves outside just as you are.”
From that time on, I have been much more aware of my gut instinct to drown out the noises of this world, and try to see them as signs of life and activity instead. Now more than ever, as I hear the sounds this world is throwing at us, I remind myself that the voices and sounds I hear are of people—not nuisances. They are the sounds of nature doing what nature does—and it isn’t always soft and gentle. Sometimes it is argumentative, abrasive, and hard to listen to. But as long as there is noise, there are signs of life—and as long as there are signs of life, there is hope. We get to decide how to respond—whether dismissing every sound and person causing our spirit to bristle—or see them as reminders to listen to Him more, love more, and pray more. Is it possible we should remember that the world is awakening? Grace is required as we each experience different depths and speeds on our journey. I don’t want to be the one who makes someone else want to hide their face in the darkness instead of waking up. And I don’t want to be them as a nuisance.
“…joy comes in the morning.” ~ Psalm 30:5
The Princess herself on my sitting rock.
Father God,
I pray to hear and see those around me as you do. I hope to be someone who can help wake others up while knowing I still have drowsiness of my own to contend with.
I pray for wisdom and grace in my approach to others and myself while not fearing the backlash of love.
Amen
