Songs in the Morning 4-22-26

I have always been …annoyed at the sound of an alarm. The harsh sound of an alarm clock jolting me out of a peaceful or dream state to the dark and sudden awareness of being awakened for school, work, or some other reason for cutting sleep time short.

I recalled this morning that when I was maybe 8 years old, my parents (my mom, most likely) got me a second-hand cream colored alarm clock radio for my bedroom so I could wake up to the soft sound of music instead of a blaring alarm. I set it on soft volume so it wouldn’t be too jarring, but loud enough that I would wake up and start getting ready for wherever I needed to be.

Looking back now, I think that was one of the reasons when I went to wake my kids up for the day when they were small, I would creep softly into their rooms, and with a sing-songy voice, I would say “Good MOR-ning” 𝅘𝅥𝅗𝅥𝅘𝅥 :-) and rub their backs to gently start their day. Alarms, in my mind, are for things a little more urgent, or at least time-sensitive than beginning the day…especially if you want to wake up in a good mood!

These recollections came to me this morning amid smiles and the realization how long ago and where my early morning "lullabies" were initiated and why Zephaniah 3:17 is one of my favorite verses: “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior Who saves. He will take great delight in you; in His love He will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” <3 

I don’t remember when the "songs in the night" became a daily morning blessing from God, rousing me from peaceful, or fitful slumber to the beginning of my work day. But certainly since I retired, it has been a morning by morning treat, drifting off to sleep at night and wondering which song He will use in the morning…

This morning, as I’m waking up, becoming aware of the soft blanket near my cheek, covering my shoulders and torso, I am wrapped in warmth, and the song that drifted through my consciousness was “I love You LORD, O Your mercies never fail me, and all my days I’ve been held in Your arms…: and as I turned to open my mouth to sing along with the words in my mind, the song changed like someone bumped the needle on the record player and I almost laughed out loud as the tempo picked up by quite a bit - “...now I’m dancing on the grave that I once lived in!”  I DO love You LORD! You know JUST what I need - and You’re so funny! And intentional! Music to wake me and writing to document our conversations!

I head to the bathroom aware of the way my mouth feels as air hits it for the first time of the day (yuk!), brush my teeth “real quick”, and grab my laptop for my morning time with my Abba Father, my big Brother Jesus and His indwelling Holy Spirit that helps me, speaks with me, walks with me and has led me to pour out words on a page (paper or electronic) for decades (as half a dozen boxes in the loft will attest to!). The gift of writing has given me the opportunity to share deeply personal and mundane jumbled thoughts from my head to something concrete and sharable with others.

I hadn’t realized until this morning that long before the word "journalling" became part of the everyday language, God had been drawing me to share the journey - not just with others but with me! His Heart near my heart, His Hands over my hands, both in celebration of moments I wanted to savor and in struggles I needed His help in working through.

It was so good to get the feelings out on paper! I’ve written letters for years to sort through things! Sometimes to throw up unnameable angst, put it to paper and then throw it away. Sometimes to organize what I was feeling so I could speak more clearly to someone else in person. And sometimes to send hardcopy to communicate things that if I had started to verbalize in front of them, would have broken me down into a puddle of tears - defeating the purpose of talking to them. And it became SOOOOO much easier once I had a computer! Now I could go back and read through it, not just “capturing” the thoughts as they came to mind, but then being able to go back and move sentences and paragraphs from one section to another for continuity - instead of the first draft being festooned with arrows from here to there like a Chutes and Ladders game, so that I could then write it out more clearly a second time.

Who knew music and writing would be pivotal, not just in my healing, but in my every day walk with God? He did. Of course. He wove that into the mix from the beginning. I just needed to listen and respond by singing it out, writing it out…walking it out with Him!

So as I start today with “I love You LORD…” and “dancing on the grave that I once lived in”, I realize another song resurfaced, as my fingers move more quickly over the keys in joyful anticipation of where He will be taking me today and what we will be able to do together: "I'm so excited! And I just can’t hide it! I’m about to lose control and I think I like it!”