Dawn

I started loving coffee in college.  Since then, I have found it to be true that the best part of waking up really is Foldgers in my cup, and there have been few (if any?) mornings that I haven’t started my day with a cup ‘o joe.

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come across a different phenomenon—one that is even greater than my ability to be woken up by just the simple sound of coffee dripping in to the pot.  It is God’s grace which seems to come so prominently especially in morning:

“His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

There is something mysterious that happens when the sun’s beams touch the edge of the earth at the beginning of each day.  Something that makes not only creation but me feel new.  Scripture tells us over and over again that life is light (John 1:4), and we are not created for darkness (Ephesians 5:8).  When this literal light breaks in the morning, there seems to be a figurative light that also refracts in the depths of my heart.

This all sounds wonderful and beautiful, just as the Lord made creation to be, but there is a significance in these promises that goes beyond just the splendor of a sunrise.  This implies that I can walk in freedom each day.  Regardless of what happened yesterday—the things I did which I did not want to do; the thorns in my flesh; the sin that so easily entangles over and over and over again—today can be new.  We do not have to spend a month, a week, or even a day trying to fix ourselves up again before we can be new.  We do not have to make up for our mistakes.  We need only to wait for the sun, the Son.  And with repentant, humble hearts we can face each new day with confidence.

Foldgers (or my current favorite—Starbucks' blonde roast) comes quite close, but the best part of waking up is this: “God will help [you] when morning dawns” (Psalm 46:5).