Upper Michigan Sunrise

Getting into bed after our long trip to Upper Michigan yesterday, I decided to do my devotional (Beth Moore’s Living Beyond Yourself: Exploring the Fruit of the Spirit)since I was unable to in the morning.  Already being late for me as it is, I was tempted not to even do it and just double up today. 

Oh how God is good.  :)

 

 At the end of the devotional Beth Moore challenges us to wake up before the dawn and pray for our daily needs while watching the sun rise.  Concluding our prayer she gives us three scriptures to read:  Genesis 8:22, Lamentations 3:22-23, and Psalm 30:5.  Following our reading we are to write down our reaction to the sunrise as the Words of the Lord are sinking into our minds and thoughts.  Here were mine: 

“Thank you for your patience.  Thank you for your renewal everyday.  Your beauty and your Spirit that hovers over us like the fog in the mountains and in us like the fog in the valleys.  Thank you for bringing light, warmth and hope to this cold, dark, and weary world.  Fill me with your light and let me reflect your sunrise Oh Lord.  Be a blessing through my body.  I am yours oh Mighty One, God of Love, Prince of Peace, Light of my Life.  Fill me up and send me out.”

As the sun continues to rise over the thick evergreen covered hills, I begin to feel the coolness of the night slipping away with the warmth of the red hot new-day sun.  I am reminded that yesterday’s worries are gone and today's hopes and dreams are creeping up just as the sun’s rays slowly creep over the knolls onto the landscape of the Earth.  He is bringing light to all who will receive it.  The choice is ours.  He is ready and willing.  We can try to hide behind our man made buildings, or under the great trees. And He will still send His messengers that get through the windows, and break through the branches, however they can only show and bring skew of His Real Great and Glorious Light.  The Light that can only be received when we decide to get up, get out, and get into it.