Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. – Psalm 90:14
What do you do when you first wake up in the morning?
You know that used to be a different kind of question. Back when there was routine and schedule to life, the morning usually consisted of hearing the alarm, getting up, showing, getting ready, making sure kids are ready, grabbing a cup of coffee and then out the door for the busy day. Mornings were hectically routine, or routinely hectic (probably both).
Saturdays were usually our days to take it a little slower. It is Saturday, as we get up this morning, but I sometimes lose track of that. Almost every day since March 13 has felt like a Saturday… and odd Saturday, but still… The days we live in are strange, but they have taught me a lesson about slowing down some. It was a lesson I really needed to learn. Now, most mornings I get up when I’m no longer tired. It’s still early, because that’s just my normal cycle, but there is no rushing around. There is time to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee, to read through a devotion, to make a real breakfast. Like many of us there are still tasks to complete, and for me, there is still work to be done, but the schedule of doing is much more relaxed.
The psalmists writes what is called the prayer of Moses. We don’t know for sure, but somehow Moses had shared this prayer with the people in the wilderness, and it was repeated among the people, and one day someone recorded it into the book of Psalms. It’s a reminder that even when they did not have a home, but wandered in the wilderness, God was there, and God was their home. It was a reminder that they are made from the dust, and God shall one day return them to the dust, It was a call for forgiveness and renewal, and a reminder that each new day God’s unfailing love can be seen, that we might live that day with joy and gladness.
The idea of a renewed morning is something I’m learning each day in life, but this psalm also reminds me of a wonderful hymn, “How Can I keep from Singing.” A modern musician named Audrey Assad sings a wonderful arrangement of this piece, and if you’re interested you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li2hddmy63U
I want to bring attention, however, to part of the third stanza:
I lift my eyes, the cloud grows thin
I see the blue above it
And day by day this pathway smooths,
Since first I learned to love it,
For it is each day that we are seeing our pathway smooth, as we continue in this time of uncertainty of change, of all that we have been going through, day-by-day it gets smoother. We do not know what the future will hold, but we do know who hold the future, and our God who holds us. May we sing and find joy with each new day.
Grace & Peace,
Sam