Joy Comes in the Morning

I love mornings. More often than not my feet hit the floor at 7:00 am and I’m ready for the day. There is just something about mornings that make me feel refreshed and renewed. I feel rested and ready for whatever is to come that day.

I haven’t always been this way. When I was a teenager I could easily sleep the day away. My grandma would joke about what time I got up that day. Usually it was around noon or 1:00 pm. When I went off to college, I became a morning person. I loved waking up at the crack of dawn, getting breakfast and walking around campus. I especially loved doing this on a Saturday morning. That was when I had some of the best conversations with God. It was just so peaceful as there was hardly anyone in sight (unless it was game day of course). College students can sleep too, which is why there was no one around.

Most of my college buddies also enjoyed sleeping in. Most of the time I would wake up way before my friends and just twiddle my thumbs or walk around campus until they got up. Usually I had to wait hours before I would see any of my friends, but I didn’t mind. I was just enjoying life.

Lately, I have been reminded of all the amazing things that come in the morning. Psalm 30:5 says “for his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Some versions of the Bible say “joy comes in the morning.”

When I read this scripture, I am reminded that the seasons we are in are only for a moment. What may be a tough situation one night might be forgotten the next morning. Praise God! My mom always tells me “if it won’t matter in 5 years, why worry about it now?” There really is some truth to that statement. If what you are going through won’t matter next year, why are we worrying about it today? I am just as guilty at this.

Sometimes when we go through hard things we can bank on the fact that joy really does come in the morning. Seasons of life change frequently. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says “what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived- the things God has prepared for those who love him.” God has good things in store for all of us. He has good plans for us. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but God does, and he is working it all out for our good.

So when I say I love mornings, it really is true. I love mornings in the literal sense and in the spiritual sense. I love the sense of starting fresh, of making all things new, of new beginnings, new ideas and new hope. All of the things that come with mornings.

Think about when God flooded the earth. Everything in it (except for Noah, his family and all of the animals they brought with them) was destroyed. Sometimes I think about that story and think about how stressed out Noah probably was. Could you imagine? Everything you knew being gone just like that. But Noah trusted God. He knew that God would bring prosperity to him and his family. When the flood was over and the waters were still, the earth was made new. God promised he would never flood the earth again and gave us all a rainbow as a reminder of that promise. So, when the floods seem to rise and your heart is shaking, maybe even breaking, remember that JOY REALLY DOES COME IN THE MORNING!