There is something special about this time of day, before the noise of the world creeps onto the scene, when all I can even think to do, as I gaze at creation, is to praise the Creator. The black of night is slowly being pushed back by gold, pink, orange, and yellow until, finally, the darkness is replaced by brilliant blue hues and the bright yellow ball rises to center stage once again.

I’ve been an early riser for a long time now. I consider it sleeping in if I wake up after the sun. It is my favorite time to study, to pray, to exercise, to write. Now that I’m a mamma, it is often the only quiet time or time alone I will have until I fall on my pillow.

I was thinking about how Jesus often went off early in the morning to pray. Perhaps it was just custom, but I wonder if it was the only quiet moments Jesus had too. If our Savior found it imperative to seek out time alone with the Father, how much more important is it for us?

(Now mammas and papas of little guys, I hear you, “I barely get to even go to the bathroom and I am pretty sure I forgot to brush my teeth today.” I have been there. God is so aware of your season. I’ll make a whole post about that soon.)

Sunrise also reminds me of my smallness in the world, particularly when I’m standing in front of the ocean for it. That ocean I can’t see the other side of is also touching a coast far away that I will likely never visit. This world is way bigger than me and my little world of “problems.” The sun, at least for now, is a constant. As the earth spins round it, it will rise and set every day no matter what is happening in my life-amazing or amazingly tragic or somewhere in the mundane in between.

Creator God, thank you for making sunrise not just a part of the order that is part of our planet’s function, but also making it majestic and beautiful. God forgive us when we miss appreciating you in our awe over the beauty you have made. May we rise up and bless your name, be it in the quiet of sunrise or the chaos of our day. May we seek after you throughout our days, in every season of life. Continually lead us to your side. Amen