Joy in the morning

There are those kind souls who bound out of bed in the morning filled with the zeal of a new day. They are radiant in the morning, they are bright and cheerful and are so painful to meet at the breakfast table.

I am so not a morning person. I got this honestly, my immediate family growing up were good sleepers. Few violations in my home were worse than getting up early on a Saturday morning. My brother was a cartoon lover and used to get up early to watch cartoons on Saturday morning, trying to keep the volume down so the folks would be clueless he was up. I came down stairs one morning early. He heard me coming, got panicky that it was my parents, turned off the television and went into the closet. I went in, turned on the television and sat down to watch when the closet door slowly starts creeping open. I started screaming and the parents rush downstairs. We were in big trouble and to this day my brother still carries a grudge, and I have a fear of closets.

The downside of having children is that few of them are sleepers. I was remarkably blessed with child number three as he likes to sleep too, but I had to survive his early rising brothers for many years before he graced us with his birth. They were up and running long before my mind was capable of thought. What a wonderful day when they could find their own breakfast. The bad news is that no sooner than I had gotten them to that stage, they had to go to school. That meant I had to get up again.

This has been a sore spot with child number three. These days the schools frown on children who arrive late, even five minutes late, it makes them very grouchy. I know this because Sam arrived late often. When this happens a nasty letter is generated to say you need to get your child here on time or we will tell on you. I took exception to this letter and told them so. I think there is now a poster in the office with my face on and a circle around it with a line through.

The symbol for hope remains morning. We have a number of scriptures that tell us so like: Psalm 30: 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Psalm 90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Jesus' resurrection is discovered early in the morning. Jesus is referred to as the bright morning star. Heck, just for chuckles, I did a search on Bible Gateway on the word morning and have 205 hits. It's all about those morning hours. It represent a new beginning, hope for the future, the promise of comfort.

I want all of that. I would just prefer it after 9:00.