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10 Minutes Peace
by Susan McGrath
Are you a morning glory?
Do you bound our of bed before the sun and marvel as it rises, have a meaningful prayer time, cook breakfast, shower and look presentable all before 7 a.m.?
Are you a sunflower?
Basking in the warm afternoon rays with your face turned heavenward, never late picking up your kids and able to complete four errands between school and ball practice.
Perhaps an evening primrose?
Are you at your most alert at 7 p.m., feeling inspired by the moonlight streaming in the window and feeling only slightly guilty as you read late into the night while your children slumber peacefully in the next room?
God, in His infinite wisdom and, I'm convinced, sense of humor, designed us all a bit differently. I'm grateful for those morning people who can read me the early news and hand me a breakfast burrito at the drive-thru. I appreciate the coaches and Scout leaders who are always organized and smiling after I've had my fill of kids for the afternoon. Personally, I'm a primrose, a night owl, a nocturnal creature. It may not be as productive as being a morning glory, but I get a lot of reading done!
Why does it take all kinds? To keep things interesting, of course, but there is a practical reason. Many of our gifts or vocations tie in with our internal clocks. My night prowling allows me to get a lot of creative work done that otherwise would remain squished between my brain and fingertips with no time to wiggle out. I don't understand morning people and they probably don't understand me and that's okay. God has a use for all of us. When I receive a message from the prayer chain at my church, it's comforting to know that not only are prayers going up from the people on my list, but there is also an "a.m." list - so someone is praying all the time.
God also provides many wonderful things for us to experience and observe at all hours of the day and night. When my family vacationed in Colorado I got up at about 4 a.m. to drive up a mountain with my brothers and watch the sunrise. It was very beautiful, but I think I was much less impressed with it than they were for two reasons. One reason, obviously, is that I wasn't sure it was worth losing three hours of sleep. The second reason is that when I get up for work at least half the year, it's before sunrise. I can watch the sun rise through my bathroom window as I prepare for the day and see the amazing colors and shadows.
What about the night things - shooting stars, rustling corn (yes, you really can hear it grow), sleeping children? These things have as much merit as the most spectacular sunrise.
So, as 1 Peter 4:10 says, "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." I believe that gift includes our best times and all that we observe and learn from being in that part of the day or night.
This week, try to share something God has used to touch you from your best time with someone who thrives in a different part of the day.
Rate it:
a recovering journalist trying to encourage others and glorify God through writing;
living the small-town life with husband Tim and sons Lincoln, 12, and Sawyer, 6;
completing a few put-off writing projects while using chocolate for therapy.
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