Good morning…

“I waken this morning as one being taught.” This sentence coaxes me to awareness from my sleeping state. Next a prayer dawns, “LORD, give us a teachable spirit.” As we hone the art of early morning listening, LORD, help us to crave the wisdom You teach. Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning then breaks into my consciousness, adding her voice to our holy chorus:

“Earth’s crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes;
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.”

Be set ablaze in our everyday lives. Seeing You, may our stained purple fingers set down our blackberry bucket to untie our shoes. Her poem opens my Bible to Moses and the burning bush.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3:2-5, NIV).

Taking a closer look, may we stare in amazement at the holy ground of today, offering to God: “Here I am.”

He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed (Isaiah 50:4b, NIV).

…Sue…