Early, early

   I can still hear my dad saying something like "if you don't get up early in the morning, you will miss the best part of the day". I confess that these words did not inspire me.

   Now my dad had spent his life in the produce business. He worked for a chain store early in my childhood, where he had to get up and go to the farmer's market early in the morning when the growers came in with their fresh fruits and vegetables. This was back in the 40s and 50s when a lot of these products would be picked one day and brought to market early on the next, and be on the shelves of the grocery when the people came to shop that day. Of course, this only referred to the items grown around the immediate area. There were other things that had to be shipped in, but, especially in the summer, fresh from the farm veggies were really fresh.

   As my dad began his own produce brokerage firm, the day still began early, as produce, brought in by truck and by rail, needed to be unloaded, put on local distributor's trucks and made available for the stores and eateries for that day's customers. As long as I worked in that business, we opened at 5AM each day, except Sunday of course, and I never liked it all that much.

   It could be that the fact that I was a "night person" had something to do with my reluctance to arise before the sun, or the facts of my job or raising a family, but my thoughts were that early was for sleep, and the bed was warm and comfortable.

   I heard folks at church and elsewhere talk about getting up early and having a "quiet time". Filled with Scripture and prayer, this would let me begin my day in the right way. But I was too busy to give it a try. The alarm clock had to jar me awake and get me out of bed and then there were things to do to get the show on the road.

   Now that I have time to sleep in, without any thoughts of having to be somewhere at sometime, it seems that God wakes me up early. I find that I look forward to this time in the quiet, reading, meditating, praying, sometimes walking in the cool air, but trying to focus on Him in it all.

   This morning, as I walked before the sun came up, I noticed the dew on the ground and the tracks of animals where they had walked across the golf course. I heard the hooting of an owl as he (or she) called to another, the chirping of birds and the noise of critters in the bushes. I saw the sky in the east lighten and begin to show color. Even as I came back to the condo, the chimes of a church to the north of us called out the hour in melodic tones.

   It made me think of the Robert Browning poem that goes:

THE year 's at the spring,
And day 's at the morn;
Morning 's at seven;
The hill-side 's dew-pearl'd;
The lark 's on the wing;	5
The snail 's on the thorn;
God 's in His heaven—
All 's right with the world!

   Now that is a good way to start the day.