Monday Morning Musing: New Every Morning

Sound sleep has not been a consistent companion lately. In part, we are living liminally and there are many things up in the air. In part, my mind wants to THINK ABOUT THAT at night....all night. In part, I never sleep as well in the summer, even in air conditioning. As an adjacent trick, I sometimes wake up in a panic. Things must be terrible because all night long I thought about the myriad of problems in the world and in my world.

I don't like this. I've tried a number of things to ease into each day upon wakening, but if you have something that works for you...let me know!

I do have a few favorite things I often meditate with; here are some of them:

New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,[a]

God's mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3: 22-23

Keeping Watch

In the morning

when I began to wake

it happened again

that feeling

that you, Beloved,

had stood over me

all night long

keeping watch...

...that feeling

that as soon as I began

to wake,

you put your lips

to my forehead

and lit a holy lamp

inside in my heart.

- Hafiz

Rise Early

Rise early

when morning darkness

still enwraps the trees.

Walk into the dark forest

with only your attentive heart.

Gaze toward the east,

take a deep breath, and wait.

After a short while you will see God

carrying a lantern through the forest,

bits of light bobbing up and down,

in and out, higher and higher,

the light climbs, spilling over

into the spaces between the leaves

and on into the world

beyond the forest.

Then the beautiful darkness

hands you over to the light.

It slips away reverently

into the bark of the tree trunks,

into the black earth,

into all those other countries

that wait for its return.

Lift your face to the daystar now.

Experience the coming of dawn.

Bathed in morning light, pray

that the lantern of your life

move gently this day

into all those places

where light is needed.

- Macrina Wiederkehr