My typical morning routine involves turning on my phone to check Facebook and news sites; the former tells me all the good things my friends are doing while the latter tells me all the bad things everyone else is doing.
Usually I see Frank Wells’ sunrise pictures. The majestic beauty of a painted sky, photographed in the wee moments of daybreak: What a blessing to have easy access to a camera and the ability to share those pictures with the world mere moments after taking them. Every time I see those sunrise pictures I always think the same thing:
Go back to bed, you crazy old man!
Seriously, what time does the sun even come up? 5am? 5:30am? 4:30am? I’m just wildly guessing here. I have no idea. It’s there when I get up, much later than 4:30 in the ante-meridian. My father used to nag me for sleeping in and going to bed late. I mean, he still does that, but he used to, too. The way I see it, though, I’m still working the same number of hours; I’m just starting later and ending later too. He used to go to bed at 10:30pm, for goodness’ sake. That’s like prime time!
My point is this: Not everyone is a morning person and that’s okay. Listen to the wise man, Solomon, as he dispenses proverbial wisdom:
He that blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.
Proverbs 27:14
Or, to put it another way: The person that decides to bless his neighbor, loudly, early in the morning, will in fact be cursing his neighbor, not blessing him. In other words…go back to bed and try again sometime closer to noonish.
This concludes my very “Monday morning” devotional. Have a blessed day…not a cursed day, mind you, since I’m waiting until after 10am to post this.
~ Matthew