01 Oct This is the day
I’m a morning person. I love being up when there is a slight chill in the air before the sun rises fully and the sound of the birds waking up is the only sound I hear. It is at this time that I get my mind right for the day, organise my schedule in my mind, plan what I’d like to achieve that day. This used to happen frequently before I had kids. Now, these moments are few and far between, but I’ve seen a pattern emerging. On the days when I can steal just a few minutes in the mornings to internalise my thoughts, talk to God, listen to His response and plan my day in my head, I usually go to bed that evening feel happy, content, organised. When I rush into the day without those few quiet moments, things often run out of control and I feel exhausted and irritable by 5pm.
As life gets fuller and busier, quiet moments get fewer. Sometimes it feels like I have not one single minute to myself in a day. This is reality for so many working moms. My 30 minute quiet time is now more like 30 seconds, if I can keep my just-turned-two year old occupied for that long while his little sister is sleeping. I crave those moments though, when I can organise my thoughts, sit in silence and listen to God tell me is plans, reassure me of his grace and when my strength and energy is renewed.
What I’ve come to realise is that sometimes 30 seconds is all it takes to find that peace. To remind myself again that “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). To choose happiness and patience and kindness. When I’ve found this time in my morning, by day usually goes well because I’ve reminded myself that I have the power to choose how to react to the happenings of my day.
Often though, I react too quickly in anger, impatience or irritation because I’ve let the circumstances determine my reaction. I’ve too quickly forgotten that the choice is mine. I have the power to choose how I react. I can hear you thinking, “it is easier said than done” and I agree! But if you think about it with a clear, uncluttered mind, we have so much to be happy about. Yes, we may lack things we’ve been asking God for for years, but what about the things we do have? Are we thankful and happy about those and spend time enjoying them rather than focusing on what we lack? Our perspective sometimes needs to change.
I’ve challenged myself to start each day as a new day, thankful for all the blessings that surround me, all the blessings still to come, ready to choose happiness as many times that day as I remember and most of all to remind myself continuously through the day that God has chosen this day for good things. Not just because it is a Saturday.
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