| | There is something to be said for getting up early... Lately I have been having a hard time getting out of bed. I grumble and complain, curl up in a ball and wish myself back asleep...which, many of you don't know, is not really like me at all. I used to love the morning. There is a quiet peace in the morning that you sure don't find during any other time of the day. But lately, I think I've let 'life' kick me until I just didn't even want to get up and enjoy that peace. It seems like everywhere you turn there is a sad story, someone calling with yet another tale of cancer, or a child tragedy, or troubled relationship, along with the doom and gloom that I hear constantly about how our world is going to be a HORRIBLE place for our kids to live someday, that America is 'goin' down', and we won't be able to afford anything......frankly I think I let it all depress me. I am not the type of person who likes to dwell on that kind of stuff. I firmly believe that God is in control, and me worrying doesn't make anything change, it just makes me want to stay in bed! But when it is drilled into your head, day in and day out it starts to get to you. So when my neighbor called and asked me if I would do her daughters hair for her 6th grade graduation this morning, I was less than enthusiastic at the thought of getting up at the crack of dawn to do a fancy hair-do. And when I woke up this morning I did my grumbling and complaining and tried to curl up and wish myself back to sleep...knowing full well that I didn't have time for that. So I dragged myself out of bed, had some tea and a bagel, read my emails, and by the time she came I wasn't feeling half bad! In the hour it took me to curl up the monstrous amount of hair she has, we chatted about all the things that are important to a 6th grader. It wasn't talk about the rising gas prices, or how China is going to take over the world, or how the taliban is going to wipe us out, or how we are going to have to raise our own food and people will try to steal it from us, or the stupid presidential circus, or companies downsizing so that we will lose our jobs...no...we talked about the dance tonight, and what dress she was wearing, and how girls at school can be so mean sometimes, and how boys are silly, and how the summer is going to be so great, and how 7th grade is going to so cool and scary at the same time. And I was refreshed. And when she left, I sat and thought that I would like to have more conversations like that. Kids have such a fresh perspective on life. And so often, we get caught up in all that is bad in the world...because sure...theres an awful lot that IS. But on the flip side of that...there is SO much good to think about too. Staying in bed doesn't make the world stop, it doesn't change the evils we face every day...really, it doesn't make anything better. So I think I need to start having better conversations...more positive conversations...conversations about all that is GOOD in the world too...because, theres an awful lot that IS. And I'm going to start getting up early to think about those things and thank God for them. |
