Mornings

Yesterday was a long day because KJ left for work around 9 a.m. and didn't come home until about 8:40 p.m. (I must have been watching the clock) due to teaching at prayer meeting and the college Bible study afterwards. And come to think of it, I haven't been out of the house but twice in the past 4 days, so I'm sure those two things account for some of the weariness I felt by nightfall. What else accounted for the weariness you might ask? Well, it was mainly brought on by Ella's refusal to eat her carrots. That sounds so trivial and makes me laugh to read what I just wrote. However, at the end of a long day, sometimes that's all it takes.

Suddenly, I wondered how I was going to make it through the two hours remaining until bedtime. I normally greatly enjoy all the little tasks that add up to the huge job of mothering, but at the moment all my inspiration was gone, and I waited helplessly until my husband finally came home. He graciously allowed me to read a couple of chapters from "Anne of Avonlea." Here are a couple of my favorite quotes from last night:

"She held over him the unconscious influence that every girl, whose ideals are high and pure, wields over her friends; an influence which would endure as long as she was faithful to those ideals and which she would certainly lose if she were ever false to them." (I remember reading that as a teenager and realizing how true it was, and I pray that Ella will be a young lady of high and pure ideals.)

"It is really almost enough to make one believe in ill-luck, though Mrs. Lynde says there is no such thing, because everything is foreordained." (I've had days where I might believe in ill-luck if I didn't know better, haven't you?)

But I am so thankful for nights of sleep and brand new beginnings. James woke first, and I was able to feed him and myself before Ella awakened. Her first words on my entering her room this morning were, "Where's James?" Then she bounded to the living room to greet him.



Seeing her joyful energy and her hair bouncing on the back of her princess gown brought a renewal of joy to my spirit, and made me glad to be a mother again and so thankful for the grace of mornings.

Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy. Ps. 59:16-17

Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You. Ps. 143:8

Isn't Psalm 143:8 the perfect prayer for motherhood (or any other place you are walking through in life)? Oh, how I need the Lord's encouragement, and oh, how I need to know the way in which I should walk.