I trained myself
to use the 8:00 bell as my alarm clock.
I could hit the floor from my bed and be out the door so that I was
sitting in my homeroom class before the 8:10 alarm would sound. When I think about it now, that was a pretty
lazy excuse for sleeping in. But it
worked for me at the time. After I
graduated from High School and went into the “real world,” I had to find a
different means to get myself up in the mornings and prepared for work. There was a major contributing factor,
however. If I didn’t get up in time, I’d
miss the bus I had to take into Washington DC and would thereby be late for
work. If I was late, I would have to
take a minimum of two hours (and possibly four hours) vacation time off and
then wait around until it was time for me to begin work. That was a real drain to my loss of my
vacation time and that meant I was suffering financially. It was a great motivator to make sure I
didn’t miss that bus in the mornings!
Of course, there
were other events in my life that made me more cognizant of time in the
mornings. The biggest I would say would
be when I was in the military for four years.
Then it was “get up, get up, get up!”
There were things that had to done for the group and you had better not
be the one that was messing things up for everyone else. There was simply too many who were depending
upon you to make sure your part of the operation was completed on time.
As I have gotten
older, I have found that I now enjoy the mornings very much. I am usually up around 6:00 am every
morning. The mornings are quiet and
peaceful. The crispness in the air is
truly amazing. It is almost like
watching a new beginning as the sun finally makes an appearance over the
horizon and a gentle warmth is showered across the countryside. The birds begin to sing their melodious songs
and it seems like life just begins to trickle forth in all its radiance.
A few years ago
during the month of September, my son and his family along with my
granddaughter and her husband took my wife and I on a marvelous vacation trip
for our anniversary to Branson, Missouri.
They had rented a condo that set above and overlooked Table Rock
Lake. I enjoyed getting up early in the
mornings and having my breakfast on the patio that overlooked the lake. In the cool mornings the lake was blanketed
with a layer of fog that simply mystified my eyes. Then the sun would begin to peer through the
overcast sky and the fog would begin to burn away. It was, to me, a wonderful sight to see.
I have since
enjoyed many mornings and the new beginnings that each of them have
brought. I marvel at the wonders of
creation as I think about what is humankind going to do on this
new day that will hamper or perhaps even destroy the beauty that I have come to
enjoy?
Yes, rising early
to enjoy each new beginning with a fresh and wonderful sunrise has brought much
joy into my life. I often think back to
those days when I was younger and regret the many mornings that I missed the
enjoyment that I now have. I wonder today
how many other people there are who are missing out on these wonderful moments
of the early morn? We only have so many
of these mornings to enjoy within our lifetime.
We can’t go back and collect any that we failed to take advantage
of. Those moments are forever gone. But, then again, we’re only human!
QUOTE TO CONSIDER
THOUGHTFUL GEM
"The excitement of the morning
doesn't happen any other time of the day."
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