Joy Comes in the Morning

Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leave you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing, and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you." ~Max Lucado

This morning's sunrise:

I am a sucker for sunrises. And sunsets. But mainly it's the sunrises that I adore. I wasn't always this way. Only in the past couple of years have I cared. How sad is that? How many of God's glorious works have I missed out on?

Maybe I've changed because every morning this is my view:

I peer out over the empty, sleeping streets each morning and gaze at the dawning of the new day from this room. It's one of the reasons I like to rise so early in the morning. But I must confess that I don't seek the sunrise, it finds me. I wonder how much more beauty I might gaze upon if I were to be more purposeful to come here each morning just to watch the day begin.

God's teaching me lately about rest. Unfortunately I have a strong tendency to think that I have more capacity, so I must fill it up. Things … activities … projects … not bad things per se, some even good. But not all of them best for me. I am beginning to see that by saying yes to these things, then I am saying no to other things that really are more important in this life.

What humbugs we are, who pretend to live for Beauty, 

and never see the Dawn! ~Logan Pearsall Smith