For the love of mornings

Mornings are like hitting the refresh button for me. I love them. I wish I could allow you to grasp just how much I love mornings.
I know, there are haters. They view the morning as an ending to much needed rest. And don't get me wrong, I love my sleep. I love my sleep so much that sometimes I go to bed around 8 PM, so I know I can get at least 8 or 9 hours of sleep. But this is only prompted by my love of the mornings.
My husbands alarm goes off around 5, and I am usually stirred by that annoying beep, beep, beep. He hits the snooze. I'm not a snooze girl. It makes the actually getting up part so much harder. And the 5 AM wake-up call happens if and only if the little one hasn't needed me earlier. Jude's a good sleeper. I'm very fortunate. But sometimes he wakes up starving (or so he thinks) at 4 AM. So after a much needed diaper change and bottle, he (usually) goes back down for another couple of hours. Don't hate. I know, I know. I'm lucky. My mom said I cried every night until I was four, and I prayed that he wouldn't take after me. So far, he takes after his Daddy. Whew, it could have been bad.
After the alarms and the baby, I get up, fix coffee (Duh!), make Jon's lunch, start a load of laundry, make myself drink a cup of water (Apparently, it's really good for you.), search for a clean coffee cup, pour my first cup, and boom! My day has started.
There are people who don't drink coffee. Jon just read an article the other day about how you shouldn't drink it at all. I wish I had that desire, but I think they are crazy! There is nothing better than pouring that first cup of Folgers right into my empty cup and taking that sip. It's marvelous. I have a friend from college who didn't drink coffee at all until after we met. I like to say her new-found addiction is in part prompted by me. She now has three or four different types of coffee makers. Proud friend right here!
When Jon leaves, I find my spot at the dining room table and breathe. It's my moment. It's the moment when I am thankfully and gratefully unneeded for just a few minutes. It's the time where I can do whatever it is I want without being interrupted or worried I will distract or affect someone else. Usually, it's my moment to be with the Lord. Just me and Him. He has allowed me to see this moment as more than a block of time. He allows me to dwell in the silence, with the exception of the bird choir outside my window. You can hear them even if the window is shut, but I usually slip on my sweater and wrap up in a blanket just so I can open the window and fully experience their love of mornings too.
It's my moment. And mommas, I know you hear me out when I say, we all need a moment. I can be creative or silent, read or pray, even look at a magazine and plan my dream home, but it's this moment that makes me love the mornings. I earn a new self when I take this time for me. And day after day, I need a new self. The old self is tired and frustrated and harmful with words, so I take my moment to ask God to help me be a better self today. I ask for His refreshing and renewing Spirit to take hold of my sinful self and reset me. And believe me, He always, always hears me.
It's the mornings when I don't take this moment that I lose true self and become this overly sensitive, worn down creature that I try to avoid if at all possible. It happens. Sometimes, I don't take this moment and realized that I was relying on my own strength to be everything everyone needed me to be. It's impossible! It is truly the most taxing and exhausting thing a person can do, especially a momma, or a wife, or a homemaker, or a boss, or a worker, or a student, or a _______ (fill in your blank). Everyone needs this moment. We are better humans if we take moments for ourselves.
I know, you're thinking this moment doesn't exist for you. Like there is no possible way for this moment to be born, let alone accustomed. Let me tell you, make it happen! Lock yourself in the bathroom, go on a drive with the windows down and the music blaring, go somewhere no one else is willing to go. I promise you, once you start, you'll never want to quit.
So whether you love mornings and coffee and birds or not, find your moment. We are sinful, fleshy selves and we can not do it all on our own. We are WEAK. Do you hear me? We are weak human beings and we can NOT have it together all the time. When we realize that and honor our weaknesses, we can then find freedom and newness in Him.