Waiting for the Dawn
I am a morning person. I make no apologies to all you night owls who have little appreciation for those of us who look forward to getting up at the crack of dawn, with a smile on our face and a bounce in our step. The morning has always given me a feeling of a new start to life, no matter what kind of hassles I had to deal with the day before. I have found that this has always been the time of day that I am at my best and most clear of thought. My wife on the other hand has always been a night owl and feels that the alarm clock was invented by the devil himself.
However, since having kids, I have been greatly challenged in my love of mornings and now find myself being more like my wife. After working all day and then playing with the kids when I get home, I find that my evenings are vital for connecting with my wife, doing projects that I couldn’t get to, cleaning up the remainder of the house that the kids didn’t get to, and doing things that I consider little selfish pleasures.
Now the dilemma in all of this is that I’m staying up later to do all these things and not getting to bed until……oh, midnight let say (if I’m lucky) ...and so it has made my enjoyment of mornings slowly deteriorate. I’m finding that I have started a pattern of hitting the snooze button at least four times every morning and hoping that it’s actually Saturday and I mistakenly set the alarm. I have also become addicted to the legal morning pep drug called “coffee”. Unfortunately, I have at times lost that smile that I used to have each morning and often the pep in my step is becoming the drag in my swag. I find myself longing for the day that I can wake up with energy in the morning once again and watch the sun rise.
However, I have to remind myself that when that day comes, life will be so much different than it is now. My Dad used to say, “don’t wish time away because you’ll wake up one day as an old man, your kids all grown, and your lovely wife will be gone.” He was speaking from experience. What he was saying to me was: enjoy what you have while you have it and don’t get lost in where the grass may be greener; you’ll miss what’s most important today. So now I try to push past my discomfort in the morning in order to appreciate the dawning of another day with my lovely wife and beautiful children and enjoy every moment of watching my son rise!
ACTION STEP: This week, take more time to thank God for the moments you have been given and not bemoan the ones you wish you had instead.