“Heart and Soul”
Poets, artists, composers… enthusiastic fishermen, nursing mothers, farmers long into daily chores…children ready to play, pets rousing sleepy owners, prayerful souls offering devotions…all awakened, inspired and encouraged by the early morning light.
Yes, some of us may need a hit of caffeine to truly embrace daybreak’s glory, but eventually we will be able to brush away night’s cobwebs and welcome the dawn.
It may be a cliché to say that each new day brings new possibilities but it is one to which we can all bear witness. That isn’t to say that the challenges, or indeed, the sorrows, of the previous day all disappear like mist. But the sunrise offers ‘an outward and visible sign’ of God’s Presence and God’s promised faithfulness.
“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. “ Luke 1:78-79 This is Zechariah’s prophecy, fulfilled for all those who believe. These verses do not deny the reality of the darkness, of life’s shadows or of suffering. But they promise the respite, the comfort, the hope that is ours in Jesus. Breathe deeply of the morning. Breathe deeply of the Christ.
I oft had seen the dawnlight run
As red wine through the hills, and break
Through many a mist’s inurning;
But, here, no earth profaned the sun:
Heaven, ocean, did alone partake
The sacrament of morning.
An excerpt from A Sabbath on the Sea by Elizabeth Barrett Browning