Good Morning!
Dan Kunz
I love mornings. A lot of people do not. I get it. Such people view mornings as a necessary annoyance to get them to afternoon, evening, and night. To each his own!
I love the sky as it gradually turns lighter and lighter. On special mornings, God gets out his paint brush and shows his artistic side, with streaks of pink, red, and fuchsia across the horizon. If he’s feeling especially creative, he’ll throw in a couple of really cool cloud formations for good measure. I especially love a crisp fall morning with its bracing chill slapping your face as you step outside. If it’s cold enough, you may even see a dazzling world of frost on grass, leaves, and fence posts. A flock of Canadian geese overhead, honking their “Good mornings,” would absolutely complete the scene! My grandson and I recently witnessed such an amazing morning with the rising sun illuminating dozens of dew-encased spider webs suspended from tree limbs in the river bottoms where we were duck hunting. But those sensory delights aren’t the only reason I love mornings.
Mornings usually hold the promise of possibilities. What will today bring? What can I get accomplished today? What work does God have for me to do today? How can I serve him? How can I serve others? How will God amaze me with his glory, his mercy, or his love? What “God things” will I get to witness today? Morning holds the mystery and excitement of tearing the wrapping paper off a present on Christmas morning!
Mornings also remind me of assurances. As Christians, we start each day with a clean slate. God has removed the sins of yesterday “as far as the east is from the west". My Heavenly Father says he will “remember them no more”. As the hymn writer, Frances Havergal, states, “Jesus, Savior, wash away, all that has been wrong today; help me every day to be good and gentle, more like Thee.” Satan may point his accusatory finger at me, but the trial is over. Through my Savior’s blood, I’ve been found not guilty. I walk out of the courtroom with no shackles or chains!
To be sure, earthly consequences may follow poor decisions, but we face no eternal consequences for them. A young man in the small town where I grew up spent his adult life in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. As a teenager, he drove drunk and crashed his car. He was paralyzed, but he was alive. Despite his limitations, he almost always had a smile on his face. We may be in a wheelchair of consequences, but we’re still alive for eternity by God’s grace and his Son’s suffering, death, and resurrection.
Every October we pause to remember the blessings that the Heavenly Father gave us through his servant Martin Luther. You don’t have to be much of a theologian to know that Luther’s main emphasis was on God’s grace. The church of his time had strayed away from that pillar of a Christian’s faith. He helped put it back where it belongs - at the center of our faith. Because of God’s amazing grace, you and I can greet each day with confidence, optimism, and enthusiasm. Lamentations 3:22-23 By the mercies of the Lord we are not consumed, for his compassions do not fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
For the sake of full disclosure, although I truly love mornings, I do not necessarily spring out of bed with a smile on my face and a song on my lips every day, but I’m working on that!