Morning Madness. . .Literally

     Garumph! This is the noise I usually make when I have to crawl out of bed in the morning.  To put it delicately, I am not a morning person.  I simply wake up mad most days.  Even when I get a good eight hours of sleep (which is very rare for me), getting ready and leaving my house in the morning takes a lot of self discipline and motivation for me.  I like to think of myself as a generally disciplined person, as most athletes do.  I also consider myself to be a generally happy person. . .but I often let the mornings get the best of me. . . or is it the worst?  Halfway through my morning routine I remembered how I used to pray every morning.  Rinsing off my face and brushing my teeth, these used to be times I would be saying the same silent prayer I said every morning, "Dear God, please give me the energy and kindness I need for the day, and the boldness to share your love with others in every way possible."

     Somewhere in my transition from a huge public school to a teeeeeny tiny Christian school, my morning prayers took a hit. With that realized, I made a mental note to get back into the swing of things and kick my morning irritability to the curb.  One of my favorite things to remind myself is, "We do not have the luxury of making ourselves the victims of our own decisions." How true is this in a world of people unable to take responsibility for themselves?  Here comes my daily battle. . . standing in front of the bathroom mirror and humbling myself enough to realize God can take away my morning maliciousness and replace it with a peaceful and loving attitude.  It's easy for me to realize that God is stronger than the big things out there, hate, discrimination, heartbreak, etc. but it's easy for me to forget that God is stronger than my bad attitude.  So I prayed this morning, and God carried me through the day.  My heart was in the right place, and all I had to do was be humble enough to ask for an attitude adjustment.  Our God DELIVERS! Praise the Lord.