No Morning Is Just Like Another

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalm 116:15.

The morning started just like every morning. The alarm clock went off at 6:35; I hit the snooze alarm for 10 more minutes while I tried to get my mind started. At 6:45 when the alarm sounded again, I hit the snooze alarm once again. This time my mind was awake, but I needed time to open my eyes and focus on the room. This is my morning routine.

Finally a few moments before 7:00, I get up and walk from one end of the house to the other for the bathroom routine. I brush my teeth, wash my face, and turn on the curling iron. This is my morning routine; I seldom alter it in any way. I go back to the bedroom and make the bed. Never can I let a morning go without making the bed. I do this day after day.

Then I cross through the kitchen, living room, and hall to wake up my children. They barely stir beneath the covers, sometimes moaning if I choose to sing while waking them up. We then get dressed and get in the car.

On the morning of this story, I dropped off two kids at the middle school and my oldest daughter at the high school. As I'd had no breakfast at home I began to think about where I would get a morning snack. The 7-11 is my favorite place to stop. You never know who you might see getting their coffee and donuts.

It was a morning just like any other.

As I opened the door to my office, I was quickly reminded that in the blink of an eye our lives can change. Another death had occurred within the body of the congregation. A church member had gone on, the second one this week. As I heard the details and the story of his life, I read the sadness on the pastor's face and sensed it in his soul. Death is something that always takes us by surprise, even when it is expected.

I wake up, hit the snooze button, take the kids to school, all the while unaware that just across town a family may be grieving for the loss of a mother, or a wife may be crying for her husband. It makes me understand more fully that life is a gift. We must live it with every intention of doing what we can to minister to others, to touch another life in whatever way we can.

For who knows, tomorrow we may be the ones who have gone on. It happens in the blink of an eye.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we ask you wrap your comforting arms around those grieving today. Give them as only you can, the peace that passes all understanding.

**First published in “God Allows U-Turns” by Promise Press, Barbour Publishing