Quote of the Week: This is the Day the Lord has Made…

Quote of the week: This is the day the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

I love the morning. Getting up before everyone else…in the dark…in the quiet…and leaving the house for an early morning run … this is one of my favorite things to do. My street at dawn is silent except for the occasional bird or cricket and a few car motors in the distance. We live on a cul-de-sac and a slight hill awaits me before I get onto the main road to begin my run. I usually walk my street and slowly ease into my run as the sun is coming up. Its my favorite way to meet the day.

It’s also my favorite way to exercise…tie up my laces and slip out the front door to meet a friend, my sister, or to run alone. Sure, I’m tired…but that feeling usually passes quickly and I gradually feel stronger with each step. As I shake off the sleep, the day’s obligations arouse me and seem to emerge from my foggy mind as long lists in my brain. No matter how hard I try to ignore them, they are usually persistent. However, even with the looming lists and demands of the day, I find my morning run calming. It’s no wonder Cat Steven’s song, “Morning has broken” is still one of my favorites.

On the other days, when I get up to find the kids already awake and the day beginning in spite of me…I’m not so calm. It’s as if the morning has already “broken” without me, and I feel like I need to catch up to it… but I never really do. I feel more in control of my day on the mornings that I get up early and slip out. Maybe it’s the conversations I have with God on those early runs when, if I remember, I ask Him to take control… of the lists, of the demands, of the things I know I really don’t control anyway. Or maybe it’s the fact that yesterday is gone and I realize I have another chance to begin again. It’s an opportunity to rejoice in the new day. No matter how bad things were the day before, morning is always full of hope. The day is not yet here, and there is a certain anticipation that hangs in the morning air, a promise of something yet to come. By the time I open the front door and come in after my run, I am wide awake. It usually doesn’t take long for reality to hit, for the shouting, the banging on bathroom doors, the sticky stuff already all over the kitchen table to shock any idealistic hopes of a new day right out of me. But it doesn’t really faze me. My pre-dawn run (and it’s endorphin effect) has given me more than just a workout…it’s given me a positive outlook…and with nine kids, that is one thing that I will never take for granted!!

Are you a morning person? When is your favorite time to run or workout? Why?