Ladies, I KNOW you’ll feel me on this one….maybe some guys too.
It’s time for bed…you’re exhausted and your head hits the pillow and you are sooooooooo ready for sleep. But wait – you can’t sleep yet – the day is not complete. You still have to stay up and replay everything you did and didn’t do correctly throughout the day. Maybe things to take care of the next day, and then there’s my favorite – BIG pending issues and concerns. Eventually…..mid-thought – if you are lucky, you fall asleep because your body took over the battle and won. Ahh….
BUT WAIT – just when you roll over at 3 am and realize – “oh good, I did finally fall asleep” that’s it. You just jinxed it. DOH! Now from 3 am until ???? the ticker has just come back in full force. BUT NOW – you’ve rested – even if just a bit, so now ideas on how to conquer the world (or just the kid’s breakfast routine) come rushing through as you try to remember the details of the brilliance that may have just crossed your mind. But instead of drinking in all of the wonderful thoughts and putting anxious actions onto paper (or technical tool of your choice), you fall back to sleep. FOR 30 SECONDS and forget it all again. Sound familiar?
The past 7 days have been a real doozy to say the least. We’ve dealt with our share of “stuff” before but when you are caught up in the middle of it is when it’s most difficult to reconcile. But we already know that “When it rains it pours”, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, “when God closes one door He opens another”, and all of the proverbs and wise quotes that can apply forever and forever. They are ALL true. So why doesn’t it feel that way ALL of the time? Why do we toss and turn at 3 am with these things?
This was me just last night, or I should say, early this morning. Finally, after I accidentally woke up my tired hubby for the umpteenth time, I gave up on sleep and got up. I went downstairs into the complete darkness feeling my way around the house. This was after making four attempts to put my foot into a slipper so I didn’t have to feel the cold kitchen floor, (a SLIP on – mind you) so I was off to a real awesome start already.
I was tempted to put on a dim light, but I noticed the darkness was just barely starting to break through the bank of windows. All of the blinds were open and so were the sliding door curtains. We must have forgotten to “close up shop” last night and now from every angle I could see the outside calling from the second I rounded the bottom of the stairs. The back of the house faces east so I knew that I had an opportunity to witness the sunrise if I just waited.
So I grabbed my favorite red rocket ship blanket (don’t laugh – my grandma made it for me) and sat on the couch looking out of the windows and I waited. This time fully awake (well, more alert then if I had been in my bed anyway). The house was soooo quiet. I could hear the hum of the furnace from the basement. I could hear the kid’s humidifiers running in their rooms through the second floor and closed doors. Outside it was completely still. Crisp, without a breath of wind. No birds, no crickets, no animals running around. Totally still.
Then the sky changed and finally the light began to peek through the silhouette of tree tops in the distance. With stars on top, the light below grew brighter and brighter until there it was. A brand new day. Just like that. And for just another moment everything was still and perfect and beautiful.
Then the furnace kicked on. It was like someone took the needle from a record player and scratched my thoughts back to the reality of everyday life. A few minutes later the coffee maker timer kicked on and started to brew. And I watched the steps of our daily lives unfold before me. Next the hubs woke up and flicked on the bathroom light. Then I heard the footsteps of my son as he trotted across his room. My daughter’s door cracking open as she began to get herself ready for school. Then the hound was released and came running towards me on the couch at a hundred miles per hour. Licking my face, hands, feet or whatever was in front her as if I hadn’t seen her for weeks. Outside the squirrels were running from tree to tree and the birds were singing and flying around. And just like that it was brand new day and it was already perfect.
No matter what is going on, the sun will rise as it always does because WE do not control it. There are bigger things to keep our focus on. The day will ALWAYS begin with stillness and peace. It’s the things that we allow to come into our day that change that.
I heard Joyce Meyer say “The best thing God can teach us is to be happy when we don’t want to.” That reminded me of an older post Happy Happy, Joy Joy and I needed to be reminded of that again this past week.
There IS joy to be found in all things. And it IS a brand new day.
XOXO,
Angie
.jpg)
