Monday, April 25, 2011

Morning Comes

(Photo taken in 2010)

Our Easter morning began early - 5:00 to be exact. We had coffee and drove a few miles down the road to a hilltop farm/ranch where I spent many happy hours growing up. Uncle Younger and Aunt Rena Mae were like second parents to me, and I miss them. If they were looking down on us yesterday, I'm sure they were pleased at what they saw and heard.

Arriving in the dark moments before morning, we carried our lawn chairs into the pasture and joined others who had come to celebrate His resurrection. Our chairs facing the eastern skies, we prayed, we sang, and we remembered that first Easter morning - when morning came and mourning departed. Then Came the Morning, a song that means so very much to me, played on a battery-operated boom box and we sang along . . . and we watched as morning light replaced the darkness. A tinge of pink began to color the eastern sky. A cool breeze blew across the pasture, and the presence of our Risen Saviour swept across our hearts . . . the perfect beginning for an Easter morning!

That was enough encouragement and promise and hope, but God, who knows exactly where we are, added more assurance. It was an amazing "God moment"! As we pulled onto the highway, I turned up the radio - which I always have tuned to XM Enlighten. You wanna' guess what song was playing? You got it . . . and I GOT it:
Then came the morning; night turned into day.
The stone was rolled away; hope rose with the dawn.
Then came the morning; shadows vanished before the sun.
Death had lost and Life had won, for morning had come.
It is a morning I'll always remember and revisit when I'm tempted to give up in the dark times. Morning always follows the night, no matter how long that night may seem. The Risen Jesus is a God of mornings! He's not a God of coincidences, so it didn't "just happen" that I read these words from Our Daily Bread this morning:
"If you believe that the Son of God died and rose again," writes George MacDonald, "your whole future is full of the dawn of eternal morning, coming up beyond the hills of life, and full of such hope as the highest imagination for the poet has not a glimmer yet." . . . Since we have this life and the next, we don't have to "have it all" now. We can live in broken and ruined bodies for a time; we can endure poverty and hardship for a while; we can face loneliness , heartache and pain for a season. Why? There is a second birth -- life in heaven forever.
~David Roper~

14 comments:

Mari said...

What a wonderful way to celebrate the resurrection! That sunrise was gorgeous.

Ginny Hartzler said...

What an amazing way to celebrate Easter morning!!! The stillness and the rising of the light, perfect!

Glenda said...

Thanks, Mari! That photo was taken earlier - not yesterday. I had put the date on the pic, but it doesn't show up well. So I went back and added that under the pic.

I appreciate all of your encouraging comments! Have a great week!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh how wonderful, Glenda. What a fabulous place to enjoy the sunrise on Easter morning.... WOW---makes chills run all over me!!!!!

Your 2010 photo is awesome.
Hugs
Betsy

Kim@stuffcould.... said...

This is so special in many ways, memories, spiritual with the rising of the light!

Beth said...

What a blessing to celebrate early Easter morning at a place so filled with wonderful memories.
And that song playing when you reached home--He loves to delight us, doesn't He?!
Beautiful photo--soul-touching message.

Mrs. M said...

We were on the beach in Jacksonville, FL last Easter at a sunrise service. So gorgeous. I know for certainty that God is here all the time, even in the dark of night. But there is just something so remarkable about a sunrise with Him. It is our favorite time when we are at the beach for sure.

I hope you have a great week :)

Dorothy said...

What a beautiful post! I almost felt like I was there! Thanks!

Connie said...

What a neat way to celebrate the resurrection. Thank you for sharing it with me.

Anonymous said...

What a blessed Easter morn! The sky is gorgeous.

Louise Thaxton said...

Wonderful message, Glenda - thanks so much for sharing.

Nancy said...

Beautiful memories of a beautiful Easter morning...provided by our beautiful Savior! :) Thanks for helping me to relive it!

Andie said...

Beautiful thoughts Glenda. I guess that no matter how dark the night, morning comes, perhaps it's all in the patience, the silent waiting.
Andie

Jeanette Levellie said...

OH, how lovely. And isn't it just like Jesus to have that song play again on your way home? Sweet!