Greeting the dawn...

I am reading through a book right now called , "Seven Times the Sun: Guiding Your Child Through the Rhythms of the Day." I have been waiting to read it for so long and finally ordered it for myself for Christmas (from my grandparents--thanks Granny and Papa!). Anyway, I want to be consistent in posting about my lessons learned as I moved through each chapter so that I really digest it. Chapter 1 is about celebrating morning. I must say that for the majority of my life I have NOT celebrated morning. To say I am not a morning person would be a gross understatement! Just ask my mama who would greet the day in cheerful song while I moaned and groaned. Or ask Joel. Though I really wouldn't want to hear his description of mornings with me.

Having the babes has changed things in the morning department. Though I still groan at the thought of rolling out of bed, I have a deep desire to start mornings out on the right foot. It does indeed set the tone for our day. What I am finding is that I easily lose heart. I walk into the nursery with a hopeful heart for the day, and usually find myself singing the same morning songs as my sweet mama did as I greet the babes and open the blinds. Unfortunately, things usually spiral down from there. Clothes and diaper changes are still a giant battle with Sam and so often I avoid them for as long as possible in the morning and things just get off kilter. While we are eating breakfast I'm thinking about Sam's droopy, (sometimes poopy) diaper--and that is just yucky. So, even if it provides for a peaceful transition from bed to breakfast, the battle is lingering, my frustration building, and the transition to morning story time is usually ruined. My whole point is that this chapter about Greeting the Dawn has given me a renewed sense of how important for me just to set a rhythm that I think will work best and stick with it. So, the past few days I have cheerfully taken them out of their beds, talked to Sam about the impending diaper change and clothes change and then just dug in for the battle. Then, post-battle, just move on to a breakfast that I make before getting them out of bed. That is sooooo much easier than trying to fix it while they are standing around my legs begging for food. My hope is that if I just stick with the set "rhythm" eventually he will just accept it and move through it easier, rather than me changing the time/place of the diaper and clothes change according to when I think I am ready for it.

The book also has some other sweet rituals and songs with which to greet the morning and I look forward to adopting a few of them. My goal is to have a peaceful, gentle start to our day and I do have great faith that with a lot of prayer and effort, we will get there. Not every day, of course, but consistently. My friend Becca and I were talking a few weeks ago about the necessity for us of spending time with the Lord before we meet the day. The thought of getting up even a few minutes before the babies is hard for me to digest. Imperative to that goal is going to bed by 10. Also, a thought hard for me to conceive. I'm serious, though, about this desire. So travel with me as I seek to celebrate morning. To celebrate each new day that He gives and to start it with joy and grace and the understanding that adopting these new rituals will not be easy, but good things rarely are. Right?

I'll leave you with a quote from the book,

" Dawn is an old, neglected friend. She arrives with full arms, bearing gifts without fail. There is a quality that fills our home in her first shedding of light. A state of dreamy vulnerability as each of us finds our way into the world again. A tender time when our defenses have not yet reconstructed themselves. Our anger shows more easily, our delight, our affection. Sometimes we name the day in faith. Sometimes we doubt yesterday's brilliant plan. We may clear the way for the prospects of these moments. Creation is at hand."